The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is establishing a BrahMos manufacturing centre in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. The facility, on 200 acres, will manufacture the new Brahmos-NG (Next Generation) variant of the medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarine, ship, aircraft or land. It will be ready over the next two to three years and is expected to commence production at a rate of 80-100 Brahmos-NG missiles a year.
The manufacturing centre, announced by BrahMos Aerospace, will be a modern, state-of-art facility in the Lucknow node of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor. The foundation stone for the centre, along with that for the Defence Technology and Test Centre (DTTC), was laid by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on December 26.
The Brahmos-NG is smaller, lighter and has smarter dimensions and is being designed for deployment on a wider number of modern military platforms. It will hugely bolster the Indian military’s modern combat capability and flexibility during the next few years.
Commenting on the DTTC, a spokesperson for the Defence Ministry stated: "The first-of-its-kind Defence Technologies and Test Centre, spread over approximately 22 acres is being set up to accelerate the growth of the defence and aerospace manufacturing clusters in Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor. It will consist of six sub-centres — Deep-Tech Innovation and Start up Incubation Centre, Design and Simulation Centre, Testing and Evaluation Centre, Centre for Industry 4.0/Digital Manufacturing, Skill Development Centre and a Business Development Centre."
The DTTC will follow the design-build-test-learn cycle for technology consultancy and hand-holding of deep-tech start-ups and industries. Explained the spokesperson: "The DTTC will facilitate industries through establishing a centralised state-of-the-art technology infrastructure which will accelerate the product development and reduce the induction time & the turnaround time for the futuristic systems development through its six sub-centres."
At the foundation laying ceremony, the Defence Minister said: "At the time of the DTTC’s inauguration, we had estimated an investment of ₹3,732 crore. Investment of more than ₹1,400 crore has already been received and the process is progressing rapidly."
