- The Ammunition Factory at Khadki in Pune on Wednesday said it has sent the first consignment of 40 mm under-barrel grenade launcher ammunition to the Border Security Force (BSF).
- This ammunition is fired from a launcher fitted under the barrel of 5.56 mm Rifle (INSAS), it said.
- “Inspired by the Prime Minister’s clarion call for an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Ammunition Factory Khadki, Pune, wrote a new chapter on self-reliance and indigenization of 40 mm UBGL ammunition production on August 11 by sending the first consignment to Border Security Force,” it said in a release.
- The advantage of 40 mm UBGL ammunition vis-a-vis traditional hand grenade is that it is lightweight and the range is 400 meters in place of 30 meters of a hand grenade.
- “It can be fired with the same equipment by the soldier, and it is also very safe for a user to carry,” it said.
- The ammunition is designed and manufactured by the Ammunition Factory, Khadki with the components sourced from Indian industries.
- “This ammunition has been imported by Army and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Units. Thus, there was a perceived need to indigenize the design and manufacture the said ammunition,” it added.
- M K Mohapatra, Sr General Manager, Ammunition Factory, Khadki had handed over the Inspection Note of the 40 mm UBGL Practice) manufactured at AFK to BSF DIG Ashok Kumar Jha on August 4.
