BEL hands over flight model TWTs to ISRO

Bangalore, June 14 (UNI) Premier defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) today handed over to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) two Flight Model Travelling Wave Tubes (TWTs), Space-qualified components which are used on board Communication satellites.

Currently, only a handful of companies in the world make such spacecraft components.

Receiving the TWTs, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair complimented BEL for its indigenisation effort, saying it opened a new leaf in the area of space-qualified components. He also stressed the need to develop highly efficient solar cells for satellite applications.

BEL Chairman and Managing Director Mr V V R Sastry said Bharat Electronics Ltd, which supplied state-of-the-art defence equipment to the armed forces, was keen to explore the space segment. ''We have had successes on land, underwater and air. And now we are all set to venture into the realm of space,'' Mr Sastry said.

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