Bhubaneswar: June 27: Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday informed media persons here at the state capital of Odisha that the Centre had decided to double the capacity of engine factory of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in next four years.
HAL located at Sunabeda of Koraput district of Odisha overhauls aero engines that power MiG and Sukhoi series of aircraft. Further, he added, Centre is also considering the request made by the local MLA to enhance the capacity of Badamal Ordnance factory located in the district of Bolangir.
Union Minister said, critical components of defence preparedness have to be indigenously developed and centre has been trying to reduce the import of defence products required by the country. He also expressed his confidence that defence import in the country will go down to 40% from the current 60% within a period of three years.
