An international ship manufacturer, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), has expressed its readiness to assist the government to develop the Tema Shipyard and Drydock into a multipurpose facility that can design ships and accessories for the West African market.

Its Director in-charge of Shipbuilding, Admiral A.K. Saxena Rtd., who disclosed this observed that the company which was based in Mumbai, India has the needed capacity to support Ghana secure its territorial waters.

He said this in an interview at the opening of a two-day International Maritime Defense Exhibition & Conference in Accra.

He observed that the MDL was one of India's leading Defence public sector institutions undertaking shipyard projects under its Ministry of Defence.

The main activities of the company are construction of warships and submarines with facilities situated at Mumbai having the capability to build warships, submarines, merchant ships.

The yard has design capabilities to undertake detailed design of surface ships for both military and commercial use with latest ship design software along with virtual reality laboratory that enables efficient production design.

MDL was established in 1774 and was taken over by the Government of India in 1960.

So far, MDL has constructed and delivered 795 ships including 25 warships and three submarines as well as 67 offshore platforms.

At present, MDL is undertaking construction of eight surface ships and five submarines and also carrying out refit of one submarine and one frigate.

He stated that the yard can supply vessels to provide maritime security for offshore oil installations, solutions for antipiracy as well as fight illegal fishing.

MDL can offer a wide range of vessels like OPVs, Fast Patrol Boats, Fast attack crafts and offshore structures for these purposes.

In addition, MDL can also provide a variety of other vessels such as Multipurpose Support Vessel, Tugs, Dredgers, Water Tankers, Passenger cum Cargo Vessels, Floating cranes, Offshore supply vessels, Pontoons etc.

MDL in addition to supplying ships and offshore structures, is also willing to provide handholding during design construction outside India as well as training to personnel through the OEMs of equipment.

The yard has recently modernised its infrastructure and augmented its capacity by acquiring more land parcels and water front.

Bharat Electronics Limited

BEL, another prestigious enterprise under MOD of Government of India, is also participating in the IMDEC 2019.

Set up in Bangalore (1954), BEL is a premier electronics company for the development, manufacture of professional-grade electronic equipment, systems and components.

BEL has achieved progressive, self-reliance in designing and manufacturing of equipment for Defence Communications, Electronic Warfare Systems, Radars & Sonars, Opto-Electronics, C4I Systems, Tank Electronics, Meteorology, Space Electronics, Civil Aviation, Medicare, Solar Photovoltaic based Systems and Electronic Components.

BEL provides turnkey systems solutions, contract manufacturing services on "Build to Print", "Build to Spec" basis with the manufacturing units certified for ISO 9000/AS 9100D, ISO 14000 certification for Environment Management System.

Ordnance Factory Board

OFB is the third Indian company participating in IMDEC 2019. The Indian Ordnance Factories – termed as "The Fourth Pillar" of India's defense, is a conglomerate of 41 factories with more than two hundred years of experience in defense production.

OFB has a comprehensive product range offered in areas of land, air and marine defense systems.

These include small, medium and large caliber weapons and ammunition, mortars, explosives and pyrotechnics.

OFBs also supply Armoured and Soft Skin Vehicles, optical and night vision devices and parachutes.

The products are having wide international acceptability including NATO countries.