Ordnance Factories undergoing modernisation works

Tiruchirapalli, Feb 15 (UNI) All the 39 Ordnance Factories in the country are undergoing modernisation and expansion works at an outlay of Rs 350 crore, Ordnance Factories Board Member (Technical Services) C S Sivakumar said.

Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, he said the modernisation activities consisted of mainly replacement of old machinery in the factories with the latest equipment. It was a regular feature undertaken by the Board every year and blueprints for expansion activities were made ready two years ahead of schedule, he added.

The 40th Ordnance Factory of the country at Nalanda in Bihar was in progress and already the civil works were completed. For the Rs 1,500 crore project plant, machinery had started arriving and the Defence Ministry was yet to finalise the staff strength. The factory would commence production within the next 18 months, he added.

He said the next Ordnance Factory to come up at Korwa near Raebaireli would be manufacturing the carbines as the Indian Army was planning to replace the present nine mm variety with the 5.6 mm variety or with any other variety, which would be decided by the armed forces.

He said the Ordnance Factory at Kanpur was also developing 5.56 mm carbines and currently they were under trial runs.

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