Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) have announced to collaborate on the emerging opportunities in the Indian defence and aerospace frontiers.
The agreement will boost research and development in manufacturing and supplying components, sub-assemblies and systems or equipment to cater opportunities in the domains of defence and aerospace.
The two premier institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard.
“Defence and aerospace are two of the most consistently evolving sectors in India. IIT Kanpur has been involved in strategic partnerships and multi-disciplinary collaborations with government agencies as well as private organisations in these domains,” IIT Kanpur director Prof Abhay Karandikar said.
IIT Kanpur and BHEL would leverage their expertise to assert cohesive efforts in strengthening the defence and aerospace sectors.
“The partnership would accelerate steps towards exploring multi-disciplinary avenues of growth in these crucial sectors for an Atmanirbhar Bharat,” he added.
Prof Manindra Agrawal, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur said the two entities create growth opportunities in these sectors. “We will work in synergy to develop crucial indigenised devices, equipment and systems quintessential for attaining self-reliance in these sectors.”
Meanwhile, the two organisations have identified critical technological avenues of collaboration like anti-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies, UAV engines, manufacturing of composite fixed-wing UAVs of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) category, cyber security etc.
IIT Kanpur is among the leading institutes in the UAV research and development domain in India, while BHEL has established its leadership in manufacturing large products/systems. IIT Kanpur and BHEL have agreed to set up a working group to realize major goals envisioned under the MoU.
Besides, the collaboration is also expected to provide impetus to the Uttar Pradesh Defence Corridor encompassing technology development at IIT Kanpur followed by manufacturing at BHEL.
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Established as a Maharatna PSU, BHEL has gained prominence as one of India’s largest engineering and manufacturing enterprises that serves the core sectors of economy and provides a comprehensive portfolio of products, systems and services to customers in the power, transmission, transportation, renewables, water, defence & aerospace, oil and gas industry.