Rajnath Singh visits Field Gun Factory; takes stock of defence capabilities

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday visited the Field Gun Factory, Kanpur, a unit of Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL), in Uttar Pradesh.

According to an official statement, the factory specialises in manufacturing Barrel and Breach assemblies of various artillery guns and tanks including Tank T-90 and Dhanush Gun.

During the visit, the Union Minister inspected key facilities, including the Heat Treatment and the New Assembly Shop of the factory, to take stock of critical indigenous defence capabilities.

He was accompanied by Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar and Secretary, the Department of Defence R & D and Chairman DRDO Dr Samir V Kamat.

Following the visit to the shop floor, Rajnath Singh was briefed by the CMDs of three Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) based in Kanpur - AWEIL, Troop Comforts India Limited, Gliders India Limited - and Director of Defence Materials and Stores Research & Development Establishment, a DRDO laboratory located in Kanpur.

During the presentations, the CMDs of the new DPSUs apprised Defence Minister about the product profile, major ongoing projects, R & D efforts and modernisation activities being undertaken in their pursuit to meet the requirement of the Services.

AWEIL specialises in manufacturing Small, Medium and large caliber Gun systems. The main products of TCL are Combat Uniforms, Ballistic Protective Gears, Extreme Cold Clothing and Tentages for high altitude. Whereas, GIL has the largest and oldest production unit of parachutes in India.

Earlier, terming the recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir as "unfortunate", Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier on Saturday said that there is no security lapse, adding that security forces are giving befitting replies to the terrorists. Singh said that the number of attacks taking place in the valley has been reduced compared to the earlier times.

Speaking to reporters, Singh said, "This is not an issue of security lapses. Compared to earlier times, attacks have been reduced. Our security forces are on alert, such a situation will come that from there (J-K) terror activities will be fully wiped out and J-K will develop fast."

"The attacks that happened were unfortunate, our security forces are giving befitting reply also, so many terrorists have been killed," he said.