PANAJI
Goa based Kineco Limited, one of India’s leading composite technology provider for defence, aerospace, railway and industrial sectors, flagged off India’s first ever commercial Sonar Dome, at the hands of the Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant in a prestigious flag off ceremony at Kineco’s manufacturing facility situated at Pilerne industrial estate in Goa.
The Sonar Dome is a critical component of a warship as it houses the Sonar (Sonar Navigation and Ranging) Array - which is considered as the eyes and ears of a warship or submarine, used for detection, navigation, and ranging. The Sonar Dome, manufactured by Kineco was flagged off to its esteemed customer Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited Mumbai (MDL), where it will be mounted on the Indian Navy’s P15 Alpha warship.
The flag off ceremony was graced by the virtual presence of several dignitaries such as, scientific advisor to chief of Naval Staff, Bhaskar Burman; director ship building of MDL, RAdm A K Saxena, (IN Retd), GM and project superintendent (P17A Frigate) of MDL, Biju George, scientist and director general - Armament and Combat Engineering Systems (ACE), Pravin K Mehta, scientist and director of R&D Establishment (Engrs.), a premier systems engineering laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), V V Parlikar and CMDE Adhikesh Vasudevan – (warship production superintendent) and CMDE Sanjay Chhabra (additional warship production superintendent) of the Indian Navy. The event was also graced by M R Aditya Reddy, joint managing director and Subramanyam M from Indo National Limited, a publicly listed company and its majority shareholder.
Congratulating DRDO, Mazagon Dock and Kineco Limited for jointly developing the Sonar Dome, the Goa CM Pramod Sawant stated, “It is a proud moment for me being the CM of the state of Goa to flag off the country’s first indigenous Sonar Dome, which is in line with the PM’s ‘Make in India’ vision in the Defence sector and the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives. It is also a proud moment for all Goans that a Goan company has been nominated for the supply of the country’s first Sonar Dome, an important component of the Indian warships for the Indian Navy. Our then Raksha Mantri late Manohar Parrikar played a very crucial role to see the project take off and had also flagged off the first prototype of the Sonar Dome at DefExpo 2016. Defence is a very important sector to the country and in present circumstances being Atmanirbhar should be the ultimate goal.”
On the occasion, Kineco’s founder and managing director, Shekhar Sardessai stated that it has been a privilege for Kineco to be a part of and significantly contribute towards the success of India’s first indigenous Sonar Dome project. “We are truly grateful to R&DE Engineers (DRDO), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited and Indian Navy, without whose support this extraordinary success would not have been possible. It is a gratifying moment for the entire team Kineco to see all our efforts translate into a milestone success for the nation. Kineco shall always endeavor to make many such noteworthy contributions to India’s journey towards self-reliance in defence,” Sardessai said.
Recalling and paying tribute to the late Manohar Parrikar, Sardessai added that Parrikar has been an ardent source of inspiration and guidance to many industrial establishments in Goa.
