Army to induct indigenous body armour

The Indian Army is on verge of inducting “Sarvatra Kavach,” a full body armour suit for its soldiers which will not carry any Chinese raw material and it is designed, developed and manufactured in India, said sources on Friday.

The complete research and development of this armour suit was undertaken by the Indian Army and it is an ‘in-house’ effort. It provides protection to the neck, torso, upper arms, groin and thighs from all kinds of small arms ammunition.

“Indian Army is at an advanced stage of procurement of Sarvatra Kavach for field trials,” said sources.

The material for

Sarvatra Kavach is the most advanced in the world, is lighter, water and UV rays resistant and lasts longer than the comparable products in the world, said sources.

“The ‘Sarvatra Kavach’ is production ready and will be completely ‘Make in India’. It has minimal requirement of imported raw material, none of these is of Chinese origin,” said sources in the Indian Army. They said that once indigenous manufacturing commences, the entire range of raw material will also be made in India. Major Anoop Mishra, a serving Army officer, who has faced bullets during such operations is the man behind ‘Sarvatra Kavach’. A controversy had erupted last year when it had come to notice that Indian companies which had got contact for 1.8 lakh bulletproof jackets for the Army were importing upto 40 per cent Chinese raw material. These companies had initially said that the jackets were containing raw material from western sources in Europe and the US but had then switched to Chinese suppliers.

The “Sarvatra Kavach,” when compared with similar products developed worldwide, is lighter, costs almost 50 per cent lesser and offers far superior protection.