Defence ministry inks Rs 1,476cr deal with PSU BEL for 5 ground-based mobile electronic systems for Army

NEW DELHI: To strengthen electronic warfare capabilities of security forces, the defence ministry on Tuesday signed a contract with defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) for procurement of five ground-based mobile electronic systems (GBMES) worth Rs 1,476 crore for the Indian Army.

GBMES is a totally indigenous, state-of-the-art system designed and developed by DRDO’s Hyderabad-based Defence Electronics Research Lab and manufactured by BEL. “The networked intelligence system is capable of detecting, classifying and locating all types of radars. The system also intercepts and analyses all communication signals and enhances the situational awareness and air defence capabilities of the country,” BEL said in a statement.

For the Army, a system like GBMES will be a battlefield force multiplier at a time when conflicts are increasingly being decided by information dominance.

The new systems will improve battlefield surveillance, help modernise Army units and boost indigenous defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country as they will have minimum 72% indigenous content.

The contract under Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) category was inked in presence of defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh in Delhi.