As Ganga Saran, Manager – Defence of PLR Systems, explained to Army Recognition on Thursday 12 April, Punj Lloyd and Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) have jointly set up a manufacturing facility in Malanpur (India) to produce small arms and ammunition. The plant is nearly operational.

(Picture source: Army Recognition)

Indian special forces already use IWI’s Tavor assault rifle. This is a one-way relation. On the other way, Punj Lloyd already exports key parts to Israel, and is about to produce its own X95 assault rifle, a totally made-in-India weapon.

Independently from the partnership with IWI, other armament contracts with the Indian governement are subject to a harsh competition, namely for acquiring 61 advanced air defence gun systems. Punj Lloyd is a serious contender. And the light-weight 155mm howitzer produced by the Ordnance Factory Board (called “Danush”) is a key programme: out of the 11 components given to the private sector by OFB, eight are manufactured by Punj Lloyd.

The company has a wider array of products on the market, like land systems, aerospace and homeland security devices. It is still providing upgrade solutions for air defence and artillery.