The Indian Defence Ministry on March 19 signed a RS1,188 crore deal with state-run Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) for the supply of 4,960 MILAN-2T Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) for the Indian Army. This order is a repeat of the one signed with BDL in March 2016.
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The Milan-2T is an ATGM with a range of 1,850 meters, produced by MBDA Missile Systems, France. (Picture source: MBDA)

Bharat Dynamics Ltd Chairman and Managing Director, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd,) stated that receipt of this order has given a boost to the existing order book of the Company. The current order book position of the company with the current order received is over Rs 9,000 crore.

As published on January 21, 2019, by Army Recognition, the Indian Army was already planning to buy more than 3,000 Milan 2T anti-tank guided missiles from France. An Army proposal in this regard would come up for discussion at a high-level meeting of the Defence Ministry for buying more than 3,000 of the second-generation Milan 2T ATGMs which are license-produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) in partnership with MBDA.

Under the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat programmes, the government has been pushing the Indian private sector to manufacture more defence hardware in the country to reduce India’s defence armaments imports as well as transform India into a defence manufacturing hub. The government has set up two industrial corridors one in the north and one in the south to encourage defence manufacturing.,

In line with the government's initiative for the creation of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' in the defence sector, many items have been exclusively earmarked for the Indian industry and a negative list of imports has been released by the Ministry of Defence. BDL's products, short-range Surface to Air Missile and Astra Air-to-Air Weapon System are covered under this list and some more products of the company are expected to be brought into the subsequent list being released by the ministry, the defence PSU said in a statement.

The Milan-2T is a Tandem Warhead ATGM with a range of 1,850 meters, produced by BDL under license from MBDA Missile Systems, France. Let’s remind that tandem warheads comprise a forward charge and a rear charge separated by a blast shield. The forward charge fires first and disrupts the outer armor of the target. The rear charge fires after a short while and penetrates the remaining armor of the target.