OFB Plans to Make Guided Bombs – Make in India

Nagpur: The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) is planning to start making guided bombs in the coming days. So far, the ammunition it makes for the forces is of the conventional type. Now, OFB has drawn out plans to make guided bombs and is seeking outside technology and also getting it developed in-house. Guided ammunition can find its path right to the target on its own.

The director general of ordnance factory board (OFB), Hari Mohan, said this will be for the first time that the factories will be attempting to make guided ammunition. The factories make ammunition of calibres like 81mm, 51mm, 120mm, 130mm and even more for which a guided version may be out.

The ordnance factories have also begun supplying components to Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), a defence PSU that is into making of the missile.
The factory that has lately developed the 155-mm Dhanush howitzer is also close to making the first prototype of the futuristic infantry combat vehicle (FICV), the new generation armoured carrier for troops. Certain changes have been added to increase its effectiveness.
“With 85% of the work done, it is expected to be showcased during the defence expo planned in Lucknow in February,” said Mohan.

The chairman, along with the other members of the board, addressed workers’ representatives from all the 41 factories as a part of the brain storming session held at the National Academy of Defence Production in the city. “After a similar meeting of all the general managers heading the 41 factories was held, suggestions are now being invited from the grass roots level over the changes needed to be made on the organization’s functioning,” he said.
This has been the first of its kind of initiative in which specific suggestions from the workers’ levels are being invited, said Mohan. “The OFB is an over two hundred year old organization. The legacy brings certain advantages but drawbacks also. Times are changing and there is competition from the private sector also. It’s time for the OFB to change its functioning for which suggestions are being invited from all levels,” he said.

The government had last year proposed to corporatize the OFB, which led to a weeklong strike in the 41 factories. No further move has happened after that. However, post the development, OFB is also planning to revamp its working in light of the changed conditions in the defence manufacturing sector.

Source: TNN

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