India’s Battlefield Management System Prototype To Be Ready By 2017

India’s INR 50,000 crore (US$8.01 billion) Battlefield Management System (BMS) project prototype will be ready by 2017, KK Singh, CMD of Rolta India said during an interview with an Indian News Channel.

Rolta is in consortium with Bharat Electronics (BEL) for the project. Another consortium led by Tata Power SED and L&T Defense are also part of the project.

The first meeting for finalizing specifications for BMS project’s prototype has been called on March 4. Rolta will prepare a detailed report within a couple of months, Singh said during the interview.

 “The present government is moving really fast on finalizing the specifications. Rolta India is ready with the products so, it would require less than a year for preparing the prototype to be ready. It would take another year for testing by government,” Singh said.

Singh is hopeful that in two years from now the company would be able to deploy the system, post which the company is hopeful of getting Rs 2000-2500 crore incremental orders.

“Currently, 20% of revenues of the company come in from defense in the Rolta-BEL consortium, the company is responsible for the complete battlefield management software, which constitutes the major portion of the project,” said Singh.

Two consortia namely BEL-Rolta India and Tata Power-Larson & Tubro have been selected to prepare a prototype for the BMS project.

Singh further said that the awarding of the BMS project will not be to one consortium but will be for both of them. There is no exact guideline as to how much percentage each of the consortia will get but from the talks till now, he says, it will depend on the level 1 (L1) and technical that who is better technically suited.

Based on these assessments more than 70 percent share will go to that party and the remaining share will go to the other party. If the other party is not able to meet the specifications, only then it will be one consortia taking care of the project.

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.