Armed forces well prepared to meet any eventuality: Antony

Kasargod, Kerala, Aug 23 (UNI) The armed forces of the country were well prepared to take on any challenge from across the border, Defence Minister A K Antony said today.

Talking to newspersons after laying the foundation stone for an Avionics unit at Seethamgoli, near here, he said there were one or two firing incidents from the other side of the border recently but the men guarding the borders were able to retaliate appropriately.

He said the government proposed to set up more defence manufacturing units in Kerala in a phased manner and the details of the projects would be announced at an appropriate time after consultation with the State Industry Ministry.

This was the first manufacturing unit to be started under the Defence Ministry after a similar project at Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in 1984, he said.

The first phase of the Rs 66 crore HAL project, facilitating the assembling, testing and manufacturong of six types of air-borne mission computers, was expected to start production in 18 months, he said.

Thereafter, the facility would shift to production of other systems and sub-systems for various aircraft, such as the medium-lift helicopter and fifth-generation aircraft.

The project, with a total investment of Rs 200 crore, was coming up on a 200 acre land leased by the Kerala Infrastructural Development Corporation (Kinfra). It had offered to lease more land for the project, if needed.

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