: Nagpur/Mumbai, August 24, 2021
In what can be considered an important landmark, Economic Explosives Ltd., a Nagpur-based company today ceremonially handed over to the Indian Army, the first batch of fully indigenously manufactured hand grenades in the presence of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh at a function in Nagpur.
This is the first instance of ammunition being manufactured by private industry in India. Economics Explosive Ltd. (EEL), a wholly owned subsidiary company of Solar Industries India Ltd. has already commenced deliveries of modern hand grenades to the Armed Forces last month.
The first consignment of 1 lakh Multi-Mode Hand Grenades (MMHG) has been tested satisfactorily for quality by users and delivered. To commemorate this landmark occasion, a handing over ceremony was held at EEL’s 2000-acre defence manufacturing facility. Today Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh was handed over a scale replica of MMHG by S.N. Nuwal, Chairman of EEL, to mark the first deliveries of ammunition from the private sector in the presence of the Chief of Army Staff Gen. M.M. Naravane, Chairman of DRDO Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy and DG ( Infantry) Lt. Gen. A.K. Samantra.
Earlier EEL had signed a contract with Ministry of Defence on 01 October 2020 to supply one million (10 lakh) modern hand grenades for Indian Army and Indian Air Force. The deliveries would be spread over two years from the bulk production clearance (BPC), which was accorded to EEL in March 2021.
These new grenades will replace Grenade No 36 of World War I vintage design, which had been continuing in service till date. The MMHGs have a distinctive design, giving flexibility of employment in both defensive (fragmentation) and offensive (stun) modes. They have highly accurate delay time, very high reliability in usage and are safe for carriage. These modern grenades were designed by Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory of DRDO.
Economic Explosives Ltd. had taken the technology from DRDO in 2016, absorbed it successfully, while maintaining very high quality in detonics. Extensive trials were successfully undertaken by the Indian Army and DGQA in 2017-18 in plains, deserts and high altitude over summer & winter. The commercial RFP was published by the Ministry of Defence in 2019 and the contract concluded on 01 October 2020. Thereafter, First of Production Model trials were also carried out in plains, deserts and high altitude on all parameters by Infantry and DGQA. Against a GSQR requirement of 95 % reliability, the grenades manufactured by EEL had highly superior reliability of 99.8%. The success of the MMHG story is further amplified by its usage of 100 % indigenous content.
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DW/SC/PK/PRO Defence Nagpur
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