BEL ahead of TCS, HCL for Indian Army's Rs 10,000 cr communications
BANGALORE: Despite competition from private sector technology majors such as TCS, HCL, Larsen & Toubro and Wipro for nearly Rs 10,000-crore Tactical Communications System (TCS) contract from the Indian Army , State-owned defence behemoth Bharat Electronics is hopeful of bagging the much-desired defence deal. Two other public sector undertakings, Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) and ITI are also in the running.
An Expression of Interest (EoI) was issued by the Army in September, under the make category of the defence procurement process, which means that the Ministry of Defence will fund 80% of the development costs, with the remaining 20% to be funded by the company chosen to create and develop the high-tech electronic system.
BELs expertise in developing military warfare communications is seen as a major factor and the company is seen as a front-runner in winning the tender that could also lead to a number of follow-on contracts being awarded to the winner. The criticality of the tender is not being underestimated by Bangalore-based company.
The Tactical Communications System, I feel, will have a far-reaching effect on how our military functions. It is a crucial project for us, which will go through the competitive route, and we have put a large number of our resources on it, BEL R&D director IV Sarma told ET. He said that BEL has a number of sub-systems, relating to the TCS project, in various stages of development, for which, adhering to the timeline was critical.
For this project, most of the work is being done at our Bangalore complex, but there will be some support coming from our units at Ghaziabad, Kotdwara and Panchkula. We have drawn up the development plan, and are trying to complete it with the latest technology on offer, he said.
TCS will be a fully mobile network, which can be transported anywhere during war, even into enemy territory, with its exchanges and switches installed in high-mobility vehicles, allowing highly encrypyted voice and data services to flow smoothly between ground forces and the Armys command hierarchy.
BANGALORE: Despite competition from private sector technology majors such as TCS, HCL, Larsen & Toubro and Wipro for nearly Rs 10,000-crore Tactical Communications System (TCS) contract from the Indian Army , State-owned defence behemoth Bharat Electronics is hopeful of bagging the much-desired defence deal. Two other public sector undertakings, Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) and ITI are also in the running.
An Expression of Interest (EoI) was issued by the Army in September, under the make category of the defence procurement process, which means that the Ministry of Defence will fund 80% of the development costs, with the remaining 20% to be funded by the company chosen to create and develop the high-tech electronic system.
BELs expertise in developing military warfare communications is seen as a major factor and the company is seen as a front-runner in winning the tender that could also lead to a number of follow-on contracts being awarded to the winner. The criticality of the tender is not being underestimated by Bangalore-based company.
The Tactical Communications System, I feel, will have a far-reaching effect on how our military functions. It is a crucial project for us, which will go through the competitive route, and we have put a large number of our resources on it, BEL R&D director IV Sarma told ET. He said that BEL has a number of sub-systems, relating to the TCS project, in various stages of development, for which, adhering to the timeline was critical.
For this project, most of the work is being done at our Bangalore complex, but there will be some support coming from our units at Ghaziabad, Kotdwara and Panchkula. We have drawn up the development plan, and are trying to complete it with the latest technology on offer, he said.
TCS will be a fully mobile network, which can be transported anywhere during war, even into enemy territory, with its exchanges and switches installed in high-mobility vehicles, allowing highly encrypyted voice and data services to flow smoothly between ground forces and the Armys command hierarchy.
