The Ministry of Defence (MoD) Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish three state-of-the-art testing facilities for Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), Electronic Warfare (EW) and Electro Optics (EO) domains in Chennai under the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor.

The MoU, under the Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS), was exchanged between senior MoD officials and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited in the presence of Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane in the national capital.

With an outlay of ₹400 crore, the DTIS was launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in May 2020 to set up state-of-the-art testing facilities in collaboration with private industry and Central/State Government, the MoD said in a statement. This was done to promote indigenous defence production, reducing military equipment imports and enhancing self-reliance.

“To provide impetus to the defence and aerospace sectors within the Defence Industrial Corridors, seven testing facilities were approved - four in Tamil Nadu and three in Uttar Pradesh,” the Ministry informed.

The DTIS provides up to 75 per cent government funding as ‘Grant-in-Aid’, with the remaining 25 per cent funded by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPVs), comprising Indian private entities and State/Central Governments.

“For the UAS testing facility, Keltron, a government of Kerala undertaking, is the lead SPV member, with some private sector companies being the consortium members. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and India Optel Limited (IOL) are the lead SPV members in the EW and EO testing facilities respectively,” stated the MoD.

On the completion of the project, the Ministry stated they will provide advanced testing equipment and services to both government and private industry, thus giving a boost to ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence.

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