Bangalore, April 12, 2005 (PTI)

Bharat Electronics Ltd, the defence electronic equipment maker, today said it has bagged a Rs 275-crore order from the Army to supply 944 units of Advanced Land Navigation System (ALNS) that helps battle tanks coordinate with each other in their operations.

The homegrown ALNS is to help armoured fighting vehicles (battle tanks) such as T-72 tanks, T-90 tanks, BMP-II and AERV for navigation purposes, BEL Chairman and Managing Director Y Gopala Rao told reporters here.

The ALNS guides the tank commander as well as the driver "on real time indicating the path to be followed to reach a pre-defined destination," BEL officials said.

"The Army conducted trials and evaluated it as a good product," Rao said adding the ALNS uses ring laser Gyros that has been designed and developed by BEL.

Meanwhile, BEL also has bagged a Rs 250-crore contract to supply tactical control radars to the Indian Air Force.

BEL, he said, was involved in upgradation of 3D static radars (THD 1955), along with France-based Thales, to improve reliability and performance with new components, besides reduction in maintenance costs.

"The supply of the first three upgrades to the Indian Air Force has commenced," Rao said.

He said BEL will supply the weapon-locating radars to the armed forces this year.