HYDERABAD: State-run Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) will invest Rs 30,000 crore in its greenfield production facility near Ibrahimpatnam to manufacture surface-to-air missiles for defence purposes. The proposed manufacturing centre is expected to create employment for more than 700 directly and over 2,000 indirectly. The facility will be operational in four years. M M Pallam Raju, minister of state for defence, along with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, laid the foundation stone for the upcoming facility here on Sunday. “We are likely to tie up with two foreign countries and once that’s done, production will start. It will not only spur ancillary industries, but also create employment for local people,” said Pallam Raju. As far as engineering jobs are concerned, he advised students to gain better competitive skills as selection will be at all-India level.“There are over 100 engineering colleges surrounding the facility, but the question is how many students are readily employable? There’s a need for skills development based on the requirement of the industry. If we have the skills, we can overtake Bengaluru as knowledge hub,” he said.AP Missile Factory Dream Comes...“The facility will produce sophisticated medium range surface-to-air missiles. We will invest over `30,000 crore spread over the next two Five Year Plans (12th and 13th),” said BDL chairman and managing director Maj Gen Ravi Khetarpal adding the company can manufacture all types of missiles for the Indian armed forces. “While some of the production we undertake is through foreign collaboration for transfer of technology, we also produce missiles developed indigenously by the DRDO. For others, we do our own value addition,” he explained.This is BDL’s fourth manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh and the fifth such facility in the country. So far, it has produced over one lakh missiles. Recently, the company has set up a facility to manufacture underwater torpedoes--self-propelled projectiles which can be launched from a submarine, aircraft or a ship--conceived by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory in Visakhapatnam for the Indian Navy. The facility is likely to commence operations within the next three months.Kiran Kumar Reddy said the nine state-run manufacturing units such as BDL, BHEL, ECIL and Midhani employ over 10,000 across the state.
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