BDL was established in the year 1970 to be a manufacturing base for guided weapon systems. Its coming into being reflects the visionary wisdom of the Nation to achieve self-reliance in the technological domain. Nurtured by a pool of talented engineers drawn from DRDO and aerospace industries, BDL began its journey by producing a 1st Generation Anti Tank Guided Missile-the French SS11B1. This product was a culmination of a Licence Agreement the Government of India entered into with Aerospatiale, France. BDL has three manufacturing units, located at Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad, A.P, Bhanur, Medak district, A.P and Visakhapatnam, A.P. Two New Units are planned at Ibrahimpatnam, Ranga Reddy district, A.P. and Amravathi, Maharashtra.
On successful completion of the SS11B1 project, BDL embarked on production of 2nd generation ATGMs – the French Milan-2 and Russian Konkurs. These projects were taken up for licence production with technical collaboration from M/s. Euromissile, France and M/s.KBP, Tula, Russia. These products covered a broad spectrum of the requirements of the Indian Army’s infantry and mechanized forces. The productionization process at BDL with a phase-wise transfer of technology laid emphasis on indigenization, which enabled its engineers to gain deep insight into the system engineering and design concept of ATGMs. In this process, BDL also interacted with numerous Indian industrial partners to develop and nurture them as reliable supply change elements.
The lead taken by the Nation to develop indigenous sophisticated and contemporary missiles through the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) gave BDL an opportunity – to be closely involved with the programme wherein it was identified as the Prime Production Agency. This opened up a plethora of opportunities to assimilate advanced manufacturing and programme management technologies and skills. Responding to the Concurrent Engineering Approaches adopted by DRDO in IGMDP, BDL was seen as a reliable and trust worthy ally, and resulted in the induction of India’s first state-of- the-art Surface-to-Surface Missile “PRITHVI.” BDL has delivered Prithvi to the three services as per requirements.
In its quest to fulfill the defence needs of the Indian Armed Forces, BDL has forayed into the field of under water weapon systems and air-to-air missiles and associated equipment with technology support from DRDO and other global leaders in this domain. Thus, BDL is poised to cater to similar requirements of the Indian Armed Forces, in the years to come.
While fulfilling its role as a manufacturing agency, the domain knowledge gained has been fully exploited by the Design & Engineering Division of BDL to develop value added items for its customers. A few of the products realized are:
a) Fagot Launcher Adapted for Milan Equipment (FLAME) – An indigenous launcher for Milan ATGM.
b) Test Equipment for Konkurs Missile.
c) Test Equipment for Konkurs Launcher.
d) Counter Measure Dispensing System (CMDS), etc.
The manufacturing and testing facilities established at BDL are modern and tuned to cater to the stringent Qualitative requirements of guided weapon systems. Special process facilities such as Flow Forming, Electron Beam Welding etc. have been set up and ensure reliable inputs. Environmental test facilities as Motion Simulators, Walk-in Test Chambers etc., are utilized to test the products simulating the rigorous environmental conditions as encountered by the weapon system in operational conditions.
BDL has been consistently incurring profits and has been nominated as a Mini Ratna – Category-I Company by the Government of India. Showing steady progress in its operations over the years, BDL achieved a record sales turnover of ? 969 Cr in 2011-12. BDL has been flooded with orders worth over ? 18,000 cr., in view of its professional competence in manufacturing products and providing services, which are comparable with international Quality system standards.
Led by luminaries like Dr Krishna Menon, Dr Raja Ramanna, Air Vice Marshal Dastur and a host of other brilliant scientists and engineers in the past, the Company is presently headed by Shri S N Mantha, as Chairman and Managing Director.
Keeping pace with the modernization of the Indian Armed Forces, BDL is poised to enter new avenues of manufacturing covering a wide range of weapon systems such as: Surface to Air Missiles, Air Defence Systems, Heavy Weight Torpedoes, Air to Air Missiles etc., making it a world class defence equipment manufacturer. BDL has also entered into the new area of Refurbishment of vintage missiles, which is one more feather in its cap.
In recognition of its outstanding work and quality products, the company and its members have been consistently winning National awards in a wide variety of areas as under:-
DRDO Technology Transfer and Assimilation Award. - 1996
Raksha Mantri Award for Import Substitution and Innovation- 2002-03
Raksha Mantri’s Award for Design Efforts for CMDS - 2004-05
Raksha Mantri’s Award for Import Substitution (IRII) - 2005-06
Sodet Award for CMDS - 2005-06
FAPCCI Award for Excellence in Research and Development - 2005-06
Golden Peacock Award for Electronics Division - 2007
Corporate Social Responsibility Award for Corporate Governance- 2010-11
TOLIC Rajbhasha Shield for Official Language Implementation- 2010-11
Raksha Mantri Award for Excellence in Group/Individual Award Category - 2010-11
Achievers and Leaders Award (Finance) - 2011-12
Innovative HR Practices Award - 2011-12
HR Leadership Award - 2011-12
The endeavour of the Company will always be aimed at fulfilling its
obligations to the Indian Armed Forces and living up to the sobriquet ‘THE FORCE BEHIND PEACE’.
