Rohan Ramesh

Bengaluru: The progress of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ has been a matter of debate in the political and industrial circles, but away from public gaze, in the defence sector, there have been green shoots, which may grow into trees that will yield fruit in the coming years.

One of them is the Bengaluru-based Alpha-Elsec Aerospace Systems, an Indo-Israeli joint venture between Alpha Design Technologies (ADTL) and Elbit of Israel that plans to produce state-of-the-art opto-electronic defence systems and small UAVs. With ADTL holding 51 per cent of the stock and with a majority of Indian directors on the board, Alpha-Elsec is considered an Indian company.

The JV is to be a major platform for manufacturing and supplying state-of-the-art opto-electronics and UAVs to the Indian and international markets. The JV has also set up factories and R&D centres at Indiranagar and Peenya in Bengaluru, as also at Hyderabad. It has also set up Repair, Maintenance and Installation centres in Delhi, Dehradun, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

ADTL has already supplied more than 2000 Thermal Imager-based Fire Control Systems for T-72 tanks and BMPs, Laser Target Designators,