The Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS), the joint venture company of the Indian manufacturer Kalyani Group and Israeli defense technology giant Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, has seen its successes by bagging several missile subsystem contracts, wants to set up another center for research and development.
The company had been operating mainly from the city of Hyderabad, where its missile subsystem manufacturing plant and maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities are located. Now, it is keen to establish an additional Research & Development center for optoelectronics this year in the city.
Rudra Jadeja, CEO, KRAS stated “We haven’t restricted ourselves to remain a production or product integration house… We have an R&D center here and with the help of RICH, TASK, we have opened a Centre for Excellence for radiofrequency engineering… And this year we are opening a new R&D center for optoelectronics”, while participating in the CII Make in Telangana’s session on ‘Defense & Aerospace: Towards Aatmnirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India)’ on Thursday, 27 August.
While he did not specify the details, he said KRAS has reached out to the government to allot additional land, reported TOI.
The company’s missile subsystem manufacturing plant was set up at Hyderabad’s outskirts in 2017 with an investment of Rs. 70 Crore, and since then it has been manufacturing essential missile subsystems for the Israeli SPIKE anti-tank guided missile, Barak-8 anti-aircraft missile, and other classified systems.
Last year, Baba Kalyani, the CEO of the Kalyani Group expressed his intention of adding up to the facilities for weapons integration.
“We also plan to leverage the engineering expertise of the existing KRAS team towards the integration of weapons on platforms, for example, the Derby Mark III, a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) on India’s light combat aircraft (LCA) and the long-range guided bomb (LRGB) Make II programs on various aircraft,” he said.
During the launch of the manufacturing plant in Hyderabad, Kalyani elaborated on the prospects the city of Hyderabad provides for the missile ecosystem in the country. “Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) is the largest missile manufacturer in the city… All the technological development related to missiles happens here. It is easier to get skilled people in this area and easy to get suppliers and supply chains in this area”, he said.
