Pune Ammunition Factory sends first consignment of fully indigenised 40 mm UBGL to BSF
Inspired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for an “Atmanirbhar Bharat’’, the Ammunition Factory in Pune’s Khadki on Wednesday (August 12, 2020) said that it has dispatched the first consignment of indigenised 40 mm Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) to the Border Security Force. PRO Defence, Nagpur took to Twitter to share that the Pune Ammunition Factory has sent the first consignment of indigenised 40 mm UBGL to the BSF. “With this, the Ammunition Factory Khadki, Pune also wrote a new chapter on self-reliance and indigenization of 40 mm UBGL Ammunition production on August 11, 2020, by sending the first consignment to the BSF,” the Defence PRO tweeted. This ammunition is fired from a launcher fitted under the barrel of 5.56 mm Rifle (INSAS). The 40 mm UBGL ammunition has several advantages over the traditional hand grenade - It is lightweight, has a range of 400 Meters as against the hand grenade which has a range of 30 Meters. Further, it can be fired by the same equipment by the soldier and it is also very safe ammunition for carrying by the soldiers. There are four varieties of this ammunition:- a) 40 mm UBGL (Practice); b) 40 mm UBGL (HEAP); c) 40 mm UBGL (HEDP); d) 40 mm UBGL (RP) 40 mm UBGL AMMUNITION is designed and manufactured by the Ammunition Factory, Khadki with the components sourced from Indian Industries. This ammunition has been imported by the Indian Army and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Units. Thus, there was a perceived need to indigenize the design and manufacture the ammunition in India. M K Mohapatra, Sr General Manager, Ammunition Factory, Khadki handed over the Inspection Note of the 40 mm UBGL (Practice) manufactured at AFK to BSF DIG Ashok Kumar Jha on August 4, 2020. Hari Mohan, DGOF & Chairman, Ordnance Factory Board and M K Mohapatra, Sr GM Ammunition Factory, Khadki flagged off the First Consignment of 40 mm UBGL (Practice) to BSF in the presence of Senior Officers of OFB, AFK and Members of JCM, Works Committee and Unions and Associations on 11 Aug 20. With this event, Ammunition Factory Khadki joined the national endeavour to make India self-reliant in direction of defence production and save valuable foreign exchange, the Defence PRO tweeted.
