Thaindian News

Pune, May 24 (IANS) The Ammunition Factory Khadki here Thursday handed over the first lot of ‘Kavach’ naval decoy system and anti-submarine rockets for induction into the Indian Navy — a step that will reduce dependence on foreign suppliers.

Receiving the decoy system, Naval Armament Inspectorate Director General Rear Admiral Brijesh Jhang praised the synergy between the Indian Navy and the Ordnance Factory Board in developing products indigenously.

“The Indian Navy had ASW (anti-submarine weapons) imported from erstwhile USSR. Disintegration of USSR led to drying up of the supply pipeline thereby affecting our inventory level while our ships continued to have the launchers.

“Therefore to meet our armament requirement Ordnance Factory Board and Indian Navy took up the challenge to indigenise these ASW rockets and achieve self-reliance in this field,” he said.

While handing over to the Indian Navy both the Kavach decoy systems and the anti-submarine rocket high explosive version, B.N. Singh, senior general manager of the ammunition factory said these strategically important products would enhance the defence preparedness of the navy.

“This has been possible owing to the special focus laid down at Ammunition Factory Khadki on research and development,” Singh said.

The rockets are made available with 1.5 km and 6 km range while the factory has been successful in developing three versions of naval decoy systems having ranges of 12 km, 5 km and 1 km.

These rockets are fired to act as decoys against incoming guided threats to naval ships. All the three versions are launched in different situations based on incoming threats.