The Ministry of Defence has signed an Memorandum of Understanding to establish a state-of-the-art testing facility in mechanical and material domain in the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor in Tiruchi under the Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS).

The MoU documents were exchanged between the senior officials of the Ministry and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (TIDCO). Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production), was present at the event in New Delhi on July 28, according to a release.

Under DTIS, up to 75% government funding is provided as ‘grant-in-aid’ with the remaining 25% funded by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), comprising private entities and State and Central governments.

Micro Labs, a private entity, is the lead SPV member, for establishing the mechanical and material domain testing facility. TIDCO, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd., Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., and Vaidheswaran Industries are the other members of the SPV consortium.

With an outlay of ₹400 crore, the DTIS was launched to set up state-of-the-art testing facilities to promote indigenous defence production and reduce military equipment imports, the release added.