BEL receives order from Army to procure mountain variant of Weapon Locating Radar

Speaking with The Indian Express, on the sidelines of a press conference recently, BEL chairman and managing director Anandi Ramalingam had said, “The Indian Army has now ordered a mountainous version of WLR which can be used in higher altitudes. This is lighter in weight and six units have been ordered by the Army. It is a new variant. We are expecting more orders. WLR is completely indigenous.”

BEL officials say that 30 units of the earlier variant of WLR are already with the Army and based on its performance across the Line of Control (LoC), a lighter weight version was requested by the Army.

Reacting on the time that could be saved on simulation for faster testing, Ramalingam had said, “The trial through simulation has started only now but for the big systems like WLR, the user wants to try it in different terrains and temperatures.”

Describing the capabilities of WLR, a BEL official on condition of anonymity said, “The ability to locate enemy weapons from around and transmit the data of the required target to the counter fire elements for retaliatory strike before the target is redeployed is the key feature of the radar. It automatically locates hostile guns, mortars and rocket launchers being fired from a distance of up to 60-80 km. Detection, location and tracking of the requisite targets is handled by the advanced algorithms. The radar is designed to detect projectiles which have been fired towards friendly positions with small cross sections across the battlespace horizon, and has the capability to handle simultaneous fire from weapons deployed at multiple locations. This will help us to take a counter measure.”

During the year 2021-22, the defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited has received several orders from defence forces, including Instrumented Electronic Warfare Range (IEWR), Avionics Package for Light Combat Aircraft, Gun Electronic Upgrade and Electronic Warfare Systems for Ships.