Gwalior, March 28 (IANS) Adani Defence and Aerospace on Saturday delivered the first batch of 2,000 Prahar Light Machine Guns (LMGs) to the Armed Forces and according to its CEO Ashish Rajvanshi, this is a milestone day in the history of the 'Make in India' initiative.

The 7.62 mm-calibre weapon has been manufactured by Adani Defence and Aerospace at its Small Arms Complex located on the outskirts of Gwalior.

“We have been given seven years by the customer to deliver 41,000 LMGs, but at the speed and pace at which the team is working, we are going to deliver this in less than three years to the Indian Armed Forces,” Rajvanshi told IANS on the sideline of the event.

“With the delivery of the first 2,000 LMGs, we are very confident that every month, we are going to produce 1,000 LMGs, which is unprecedented,” he added.

The event was attended by A. Anbarasu, DG Acquisition, Ministry of Defence, and other senior officials of the private firm. Anbarasu later flagged off a series of trucks carrying the first batch of the LMGs meant for the Army.

“These have been highly instrumental because it goes back to the whole 'Make in India' strategy. It was important that we got at least the base technology from our partners,” Rajvanshi told reporters.

“It has taken us six years to reach this point. The journey started in 2020 with a vision and the dream of ‘Aatmanirbharta’, and we were not sure where we were going to land. With the perseverance and hard work of the team, along with the support of policymakers over the last five years, we can proudly say that we have moved from being a component manufacturer to a full-gun OEM in these five years,” Rajvanshi noted.

Anbarasu said this shows there is the ability to "race and fire" against time in turning contracts into deliveries.

--IANS

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