BEL inks pact with SAC-ISRO to boost indigenisation of defence and space production

Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) on Monday said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO to collaborate, indigenise and develop infrastructure for manufacturing space-grade Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers (TWTAs) in India. The BEL said that the MoU that was signed at SAC Ahmedabad will give a boost to the indigenisation of defence and space production and save foreign exchange for the country.

"TWTA is a complex multi-disciplinary technology involving controlled interaction of microwave with electron beam under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. State-of-the-art fabrication and manufacturing facility for TWTAs has been established at BEL," the defence PSU said.

TWTAs developed by SAC, ISRO, and manufactured by BEL will be used in satellite communication and navigation payloads, microwave remote sensing radar payloads, scientific missions or probes and inter-spacecraft communications links. These items are integral parts of various communication and microwave remote sensing payloads, it added.