Adani Defence & Aerospace is set to build South Asia’s largest complex to manufacture missiles and ammunition, the first by a private company, owned by Gautan Adani, an oligarch close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The complex will include two state-of-the-art production facilities, which were inaugurated today in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, in the presence of the State’s Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath (a leading member of the Bharatiya Janata Party), the Chief of Staff of the Army Staff, General Manoj Pande, as well as other top military officials and poli-ticians.
The Adani Group will invest more 30 billion rupees (around US$ 362 million), claiming that it will create more than 4,000 jobs. The ammunition plant has already started rolling out small calibre ammunition, starting with 150 million rounds estimated at 25% of India’s annual require-ment.
Stressing the need for self-reliance in missiles and ammunition, General Pande said that recent geopolitical events have shown the need for a reliable su-pply of ammunition from domestic sources to prepare for a protracted conflict.
It is no coincidence that the official inauguration took place today, the fifth anniversary of Operation Bandar, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) hit Islamic terrorist training camps in Pakistan in the aftermath of an attack in Pulwama (India) that left 40 people dead. India is the world’s largest arms importer, but it is trying to boost its defence manufacturing industry.