BEL expects EW biz of Rs 22,500 cr in next 8-10 yrs

State-run Bharat Electronics (BEL) expects to get business of Rs 22,500 crore for manufacture of electronic warfare (EW) systems for the Indian Armed Forces in the next eight to ten years, a senior company official said today.

In the next two years alone, the pipeline is projected to be of the order of Rs 8,000 crore for the tri service (Army, Navy and Air Force) customers, Bangalore-headquartered BEL's Director (R & D) I V Sarma said.

About Rs 4,500 crore of that sum is expected to come in the production of 'Sangraha-II EW' systems for the Navy and upgraded Samyukta EW systems for the Army, he said.

Till 2008-09, BEL has supplied EW systems of the order of Rs 3,500 crore, Sarma said.

At present, Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), Bangalore, and Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL), Hyderabad, are the two DRDO laboratories engaged in the design and development of EW systems indigenously.