UAE Orders 40,000 Pieces of Bofors Component from India

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has placed an order for 40,000 pieces of a component used in Bofors artillery guns from Indian state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for an estimated $36 million (232 crores).

The order placed in September this year, is the biggest export order by value, which came amid India’s push to scale up exports of military hardware, chairman S.C. Bajpai was quoted as saying by Livemint at a press conference on Tuesday.

Though the OFB started to export ammunition in 1989, the value of orders ranged between INR 30 crore and INR 35 crore, said other officials at the OFB, who asked not to be identified.

The UAE and several other countries are showing interest in goods manufactured by the OFB, Bajpai said.

Officials from the UAE are currently in India for trial of another component used in heavy artillery guns. The trials have been satisfactory, according to the unnamed OFB officials cited above.

The order from the UAE is a “big leap” in the OFB’s history, and the ammunition manufacturer is trying to secure more orders from the West Asian nation, one of them said.