Defence Ministry orders 41 indigenous 'modular bridges' from L&T

The decision to partner with L&T for procurement of 41 DRDO-designed indigenous modular bridges has come at the cost of Rs 2,585 crore.

New Delhi, Feb 9: In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on global defence majors to manufacture military hardware in India for its defence forces. Following what the Prime Minister desires from his ambitious 'Make In India' program, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is also working on the indigenization process. One major step towards indigenization is buying defence products from Indian defence companies.

The latest decision from the MoD to acquire 41 indigenous 'modular bridges' from Larson & Toubro (L&T) is just another major step towards indigenization of defence products. The government has been following the Make-in-India mantra in letter and spirit. As Prime Minister Modi says stable, predictable and futuristic policies are here to help defence companies, MoD has been framing pro-indigenization policies.

Major boost to 'Aatmanirbharta'

Self-reliance in defence production is what the Modi government is looking for and for that it is partnering with the private defence companies. The decision to partner with L&T for procurement of 41 indigenous modular bridges has come at the cost of Rs 2,585 crore. The approval has already been received from the ministry for indigenous manufacturing of 41 sets of modular bridges.

These bridges are to be used by the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. It's pertinent to note that major work of research and development has already been done by DRDO. According to a MoD press release, the game-changing modular bridges have been designed and developed by DRDO. Thus, L&T's role would be to manufacture them in the specified manner required by the ministry.

Massive boost in bridging capability

The MoD has specified that the modular bridges to be built will replace the manually-launched medium girder bridges (MGBs), which are old but require replacement. According to the ministry, indigenously designed by DRDO and to be manufactured by L&T, the modular bridges are meant to serve longer.

Another advantage that the Modular bridges carry along include comparatively lesser time taken for construction. Thus, apart from durability their major advantage comes through the fact that they are easy for mechanical launching. Additionally, they will have retrieval capability that helps in swift bridging often required by the Indian defence forces.

The ministry admits that with the procurement Indian Army will receive a massive boost in the bridging capability, especially on the Western Front.