Larsen and Toubro and state-owned Bharat Electronic entered into a pact to develop and manufacture defence products and systems for domestic and export markets

NEW DELHI: Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro and state-owned Bharat Electronic (BEL) today entered into a pact to develop and manufacture defence products and systems for domestic and export markets.

The MoU seeks to leverage the capabilities of both the firms for meeting the growing requirements of the Indian Armed Forces, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) said in a statement.

"L&T, India's multinational engineering conglomerate, and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a leading public sector enterprise in defence electronics and tactical systems, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cater to the needs of evolving domestic and export markets for defence products and systems," the statement said.

The MoU also intends to leverage the well developed supply chain, vast experience and expertise of BEL and L&T to synergise and enhance exports in the defence sector.

Jayant Patil, Whole-time Director (Defence) and Member of L&T Board, said: "The MoU offers an opportunity for public-private sector partnership between two industry leaders in defence equipment and systems to synergise their strengths to deliver to the Indian Armed Forces and to the export market contemporary products with high indigenous content".

The decision to formalise the partnership through this MoU was made after extensive evaluation and identifying the core competencies and strong synergies between the two of them, L&T said.

The engineering firm and BEL have collaborated and partnered on co-development and production of major sub-systems involving complex technologies and sophisticated weapon systems such as Akash Missile launchers and other radar platforms for Indian MoD orders, it said.

L&T has been delivering a range of launcher systems, fire control systems and airframes/sub-systems for various indigenous weapon programmes as development partners and production agency to DRDO and DPSUs, the company said.

By synergising L&T's manufacturing, system design and integration capabilities and extensive global footprint with BEL's core competencies in electronic equipment and systems, the companies look forward to enhancing their product range, jointly evolve new products and enhance business prospects, it added.