Upgrading Pechora Surface To Air missile system: Indian private firm Alpha Design wins Rs 591 crore contract

In a major fillip for Government's push for indigenous defence manufacturing, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has roped in private sector players Alpha Design Technologies Limited (ADTL) to upgrade the soviet era Pechora surface to air systems, reports Economic Times.

ADTL will be upgrading and digitising 16 of the Pechora missile and radar systems which are presently in operation under a contract worth Rs 591 crore. Also, the contract has an options clause, under which the number of systems to be upgraded and digitised could be taken up to a total of 24 in the coming years.

It should also be noted that the project would lead to the adoption of a host of indigenously developed technologies in the Pechora missile systems, like radar transmitter, thermal imager based electro-optical system and communication equipment.

The entire contract is to be executed within four years and the contract was signed last week. For the contract, ADTL has partnered with Russian entities to upgrade the missile systems which have been in service for over 30 years. It should be noted that as per ADTL's chairman and managing director Col HS Shankar (Retd), the upgradation of the existing systems will cost less than the procurement of fresh new systems.

The contract also gains significance, as ADTL beat public sector majors like Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to win it.