BDL Signs $110 million Contract with Indian Army to Supply Konkurs Anti-tank Missiles

India's state-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed a contract worth INR 760 crore ($110 million) with the Indian Army for the supply of Konkurs Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) and Launchers.

The contract was signed in New Delhi on Tuesday by Gurudatta Prasad, Director of production at BDL. "The missiles and launchers will be manufactured under continued technical collaboration with Russia at the Bhanur unit of BDL in Telangana State," a BDL statement said.

BDL has been producing Konkurs ATGMs under Russian license at the Bhanur facility. The missiles have been upgraded with a tandem warhead.

Meanwhile Russian media reported that the order for the missiles is considered as a stopgap measure to quickly address the capability gap of around 68,000 anti-tank guided missiles of various types. This gap is around 60% short of authorised capacity.

The Konkurs ATGM was developed by the Tula Machinery Design Bureau (Tula KBP) of Russia. The missile is designed to be fired from vehicles, although it can also be fired from the later models of 9M111 launchers. It is an integral part of the BMP-2, BMD-2 and BRDM-2 vehicles. The missile is stored and carried in a fiberglass container/launch tube.

As per the report published in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute`s (SIPRI) arms transfer database, the Indian Army had received approximately 7,000 upgraded Russian 9M113 Konkurs ATGMs in late 2015.

The Indian government had scrapped a $500 million deal with Israeli defence contractor Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd. in favour of an indigenous ATGM system.