Hyderabad: VEM Technologies, the first private sector unit to make a central fuselage for Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), is scaling up its defence manufacturing capabilities by setting up a Rs. 1,000 crore integrated defence facility at Yelgoi near Zaheerabad in Sangareddy.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Telangana state government was signed on October 24, by VEM Technologies CMD V. Venkata Raju in the presence of IT and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao, DRDO chairman G. Satheesh Reddy, Niti Aayog member V.K. Saraswat, TS Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) VC and MD E.V. Narasimha Reddy and IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan.
With over three and half decades of expertise and experience, VEM is poised to build the “State of the art Integrated Defence Systems Facility” mainly meant for a weapon systems integration in Zaheerabad, Sanga Reddy District, Telangana State. The facility spread over 511 acres will have full-fledged facility for Missiles, Naval Systems, UAS, Medium and Large Aero/Naval Structures, Radars, Aero-engines, Hot and Cold integration, Metrology, Surface treatment with NADCAP certification. The upcoming facility will meet the current and forthcoming orders, will be the base for few of foreign OEMs to productionise their systems for the Indian/global markets. Yelgoi unit, with an investment of Rs. 785 crores and an assurance of large number of employment over the next 5 years, is going to start a new chapter in the defence, aeronautics and space sectors and it will be first of its kind in the country having the end to end infrastructure for assembly, integration and testing of the systems.
VEM Technologies Chairman and Managing Director, V. Venkata Raju said that this exclusive defence factory, to come up in the next five years, will be involved in making next generation weapon systems end-to-end, including missiles, radars, seekers, engines, avionics, fighter planes, helicopters and the likes, employing close to 2,000 persons. This will also serve as a defence export processing zone to cater to the overseas market.
Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, also secretary of the department of defence R&D, said that the government was keen on opening up the entire defence production for the private sector and an entire missile weapons system to be made by the latter. Akash Missile being manufactured by BDL has 85% private sector contribution with several ‘tier 2 and tier 3’ contributing.
“This is an ideal scenario where we want small scale sector to contribute and not large monopolies. Hyderabad is going to be the centre for several production facilities, including anti-drone technologies, electronic warfare and others, with at least Rs. 1 lakh crore orders coming by as more key technologies will be transferred by the ministry,” he said.
- Venkata Raju stated that aerospace and defence company currently functions from two locations — for design and development and manufacturing facilities here. It has been a production partner with defence public sector units like BEL, HAL and others in making various systems for BrahMos, LRSAM/MRSAM, Astra missiles and so on. In fact, it has been working on its own weapon system, ASIBAL – an anti-tank guided missile system.
IT and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao hailed the pact and reiterated the government’s support for the project and also in establishing the proposed skill development centre at Zaheerabad. The city has become a hub for defence manufacturing over decades with several public and private units established, he pointed out, and called for collaborative efforts between the Centre and State to give impetus to defence sector putting aside ‘ideological differences’ for the sake of the nation.
Dr. Saraswat recalled the growth of VEM Technologies in the last three decades and expected it to become the aerospace-defence leader akin to US-based ‘Lockheed Martin’. Former Union Defence Minister Pallam Raju was also present.
VEM Technologies Pvt. Ltd., is an Aerospace and Defence company and is focusing to be a leading technology & systems company through innovations, technology absorption and improvement. VEM stands out to be one of the first five defence companies in the country in terms of competencies and the infrastructure as it offers the end to end technology solutions and systems for various weapon systems for land, air and naval applications. Thanks to DRDO, VEM is a development partner for various Missile Systems in the country and a production partner with the Defence PSUs of BDL, BEL & HAL and BrahMos. VEM is one of the large production partners for Akash, LRSAM/MRSAM, Astra & BrahMos Missile programmes supplying various systems and sub-systems. VEM supplies “Centre Fuselages” to the country’s prestigious Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas Production programme.
VEM has developed its own weapon system, ASIBAL – an Anti-Tank Guided Missile System and few of high end and hi-reliable systems for defence and aeronautics under “Atma Nirbhar Bharat/Make In India”. Besides, VEM has established itself as a reliable supplier for Fighter Aircrafts, Helicopters and UAVs – supplying the highly complex structure assemblies, Power electronics, Control Actuation Systems etc. As the technologies remain similar for Space applications, VEM is in the development of niche systems for Space applications.
