The Ministry of Protection has initiated the method for the indigenous design and growth of a 1000-kg aerial bomb akin to Mk-84 for the IAF, aiming to spice up India’s ‘Atmanirbharta‘ within the sector, in response to senior officers.
The Ministry has “issued an Expression of Curiosity (EoI) for design, growth and procurement of 1,000-kg aerial bombs (akin to Mk-84) together with tail items and related gear underneath the provisions of the Protection Acquisition Process (DAP) 2020”, an official mentioned.
The venture is structured in two phases. The primary entails design and growth of six prototypes (stay and inert), together with related tail items and gear, they mentioned.
The second is the procurement section, which is able to start with the issuance of a business Request for Proposal (RFP) to the qualifying growth companies.
The system is meant to be “appropriate with each Russian and Western-origin plane” at the moment operated by the Indian Air Power (IAF), as per the official.
The venture shall be executed underneath the ‘Make-II’ (industry-funded) sub-category, adopted by procurement underneath the ‘Purchase (Indian–IDDM)’ class. IDDM stands for Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured.
A complete of “600 aerial bombs are deliberate to be procured” underneath the ‘Purchase (Indian–IDDM)’ class in accordance with the DAP 2020 provisions.
At current, Mk-84 class general-purpose bombs are procured from overseas unique gear producers and are in service with the IAF.
The proposed aerial bomb is described as a “pure fragmentation, high-calibre munition able to producing excessive blast impact and important peak over-pressure (PoP) towards enemy targets”, the official mentioned.
The official additionally talked about that the primary section of the venture shall be undertaken by the chosen growth companies, and it consists of single-stage composite trials (SSCT), after which preliminary employees qualitative necessities (PSQRs) shall be transformed into air employees qualitative necessities (ASQRs).
The IAF will allow this course of, pushing for indigenous growth in order that it may be scaled up in operations. The event section is required to realize a minimal of fifty% indigenous content material.
The estimated timeline for the venture is roughly 2.5 years from EoI issuance to contract signing, the officers mentioned.
This consists of prototype growth, adopted by consumer trials and subsequent phases involving analysis, business processes, and contract finalization.
The trials shall be carried out inside India at IAF items or different designated places and can contain testing on a specified IAF plane platform, the officers mentioned.
Participation within the EoI is open to eligible Indian entities, together with the personal {industry}, with provisions for overseas collaboration underneath outlined situations, akin to joint ventures, switch of know-how, or business off-the-shelf preparations.
Nonetheless, the respondents should clearly show compliance with indigenous design and manufacturing necessities, even in circumstances involving overseas companions, the officers mentioned.
Analysis of responses shall be primarily based on monetary and technical standards as per the DAP.
Technical analysis will assess engineering functionality, infrastructure, integration capability, indigenous content material ranges, and compliance with PSQRs, the officers mentioned.
Revealed – April 05, 2026 12:01 am IST