BEL to set up e-warfare R&D lab in city

Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) is setting up a Central Research Laboratory (CRL) which will focus on ‘complex’ research on futuristic technologies in the area of electronic warfare (EW). The Bangalore-headquartered company already has two CRLs located in Bangalore and Ghaziabad.

The lab, the company is planning to set up, would initially have about 20 scientists and focus on both electronic warfare and electro-optics, BEL CMD Ashwani Kumar Datt said here on Wednesday. He said BEL was expecting to derive about Rs 1,500 crore of revenues by pursuing EW projects.

The EW business of BEL contributes close to 17 per cent to the company’s revenues of about Rs 4,800 crore. “We get around Rs 700-800 crore from EW business at present, and we want to double the business in two years. We are preparing the organisation and partner organisations, both in the private and public sectors, to support this growth,” Datt told reporters after addressing the inaugural function of an international conference on electronic warfare. Presently, about 800 people work for various electronic warfare projects being pursued by BEL.

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

BEL is preparing itself to play a major role in the nuclear power sector by offering nuclear power instrumentation solutions.

Datt said the company was already doing similar projects, and was in discussions with Nuclear Power Corporation to offer electronic instrumentation for power stations. “We are also trying to hold discussions with foreign companies entering the nuclear power business in India,” he added.