BEL Consortium Selected For $8 Billion Indian Battlefield Management System Project

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Rolta India announced today that their consortium has been selected for the $8.01 billion (INR 50,000 Crore) Battlefield Management System (BMS) development project by Indian Defense Forces.

Another consortium led by Tata Power SED and L&T Defense are also part of the BMS development project. The government will be funding 80 percent of the prototype cost and the remaining 20 percent will have to be borne by the consortiums. Both the consortia will have to develop the prototype in 2-3 years. Around 70 percent of the order is with the BEL-Rolta consortium and the rest of 30 percent is with the Tata-L&T consortium.

The BMS project, categorized as a “Make” programme under the DPP, will be one of the largest solutions to be indigenously manufactured for the Indian Defense.

This project is meant to deliver Command and Control capabilities to the fighting echelons, operating at the forward edge of the Tactical Battle Area at the Battalion and Combat Group levels. BMS is a situational awareness and visualization system that aims to optimize the operational effectiveness of tactical units.

BEL has been working on battlefield management systems. The Company has established the test bed of BMS for continuous evaluation and implementation of user requirements. Having worked on several Tactical Command, Control, Communications & Intelligence (Tac C3I) systems of the Indian Army, in association with DRDO, BEL has the unique capability of developing and integrating Tac C3I systems and will lead the consortium.

As a part of the consortium, Rolta will execute its role and responsibility in areas of BMS application software development and applicable licensing, GIS software and GIS data services. Rolta will also jointly work with BEL for manufacturing subsystems for the soldier system, the overall system design, integration, installation, commissioning and maintenance of the BMS solution.

P C Jain, Director (Marketing), BEL, said: “The consortium of BEL and Rolta is fully geared up to take on the challenge of development of the Battlefield Management System for our Defence forces. We also aim to maximize the indigenous content through in-house development of various sub-systems.”

“It is indeed a privilege for us to be part of this prestigious “Make In India” programme for the Indian Defense,” said K K Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, Rolta India Limited.