Nagpur: Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, accompanied by Chairman of Solar Industries India Limited, Satyanarayan Nuwal, reviewed the manufacturing processes of various defence products at the firm’s headquarters in Nagpur.
Speaking to a news agency, the Navy Chief lauded the products and progress made by Solar Industries India Ltd. He added that there needs to be synergy between the public and private sectors, as the latter is new in defence production.
Gold Rate
13 June 2025
“It’s really eye-opening to see what progress has been made by Solar (Solar Group) in the last 14-15 years. As far as the synergy between the public and private sectors in the defence ecosystem is concerned, it is a must because some public sector companies have been working in this field for many decades, and private companies are relatively new. So there is a need for them to talk to each other, learn from each other,” Admiral Tripathi said.
Chairman of Solar Industries India Ltd, Satyanarayan Nuwal, said that they showed the Navy Chief their drones and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). They also showed the navy officials their Counter-Unmanned Aerial System, Bhargavastra.
Satyanarayan Nuwal said, “Today, we mainly showed our facility with drones and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). We showed the composite manufacturing unit of UAS. We also showed Bhargavastra (Counter- Unmanned Aerial System) to them…This counter-drone system is a significant thing…Considering present situations, we learned that the biggest need is for long-range missiles. We have already presented a proposal in this regard…”
The visit of Navy Chief assumes importance as the armed forces are eyeing production of long-range missiles and even drones and counter-drone systems. The visit was significant in the backdrop of Operation Sindoor, said sources. It also followed a visit by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Chairman, Samir Kamat, to the defence manufacturing establishments at Nagpur, a fortnight ago.
Tripathi, who reached Nagpur on Wednesday, first inspected the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL) unit in the city. This was followed by a visit to Solar Defence and Aerospace Limited (SDAL), which makes ammunition and UAVs, and then JSR Dynamics on Thursday. An air bomb-making unit, the latter is promoted by the former Vice-Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Air Marshal (Retd) Shirish Deo.
BAPL, which is a joint venture between India and Russia, has a key unit at Nagpur apart from Hyderabad. The propulsion systems of BrahMos missiles are supplied by SDAL, which is also making the Pinaka rockets for the armed forces, apart from Nagastra loitering munition and other types of ammunition.
Nagastra was used in Operation Sindoor. It was learnt the naval chief wanted to inspect the manufacturing facilities in the country, especially for making long-range missiles that can be fired beyond 400 km. Several variants for drones and even anti-drone mechanisms are being considered, said sources.
JSR Dynamics, which is the youngest among the three entities visited by Admiral Tripathi, is into development of air-launched glide weapons, miniature ground launch decoys, loitering munitions, long-range guided munitions, and rocket launch systems of different types.
Nagpur has emerged as a hub of ammunition manufacturing. Apart from defence PSUs carved out of ordnance factories, which have seen a major increase in its order book, even private sector industries have checked in to make high-calibre ammunition.
