Army rejects companies' demand to conduct critical ballistic tests at a police laboratory

The Army has put its foot down over repeated requests by companies to conduct critical ballistic tests for new equipment at a police laboratory and made it clear that it will stick to time-tested facilities of the defence ministry for accurate results.

The defence ministry has faced a series of requests over the past year to conduct ballistic tests for new equipment such as bullet-proof jackets and helmets at a police laboratory, instead of the ministry's own Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) that has traditionally been used for validation tests.




Officials said these requests are unusual given that reliable facilities are available within the defence ministry and are specifically geared to meet the unique requirements of the armed forces. People familiar with the matter said in an ongoing case of procurement of 47,000 jackets needed for the Army, another request for changing the testing laboratory was received from one of the competitors. However, after evaluation, the request has been turned down as no justification could be found for the request.

They added that in an earlier case pertaining to an emergency procurement of bulletproof jackets, initial tests were carried out at TBRL but the process was shifted to a police laboratory on the request of some competitors. TBRL is a laboratory under DRDO and is used to test a variety of ammunition as well as protective equipment.

The lab is involved in development, production and testing of high explosives materials such as warheads, shells and ammunition and explosives. It also carries out flight testing of bombs, missiles and airborne systems. A major part of the lab is dedicated to ballistic evaluation of protective systems such as body armour, vehicle armour and helmets against small arms.