BEL has developed a lighter, compact variant of its Swathi Mark I weapon location radar (pictured here). The new system is intended for operations on mountains and at high altitudes. (BEL)

The Indian Army has ordered six units of a new “mountain variant” of a weapon location radar (WLR) system developed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

Speaking to Janes at a recent event, Anandi Ramalingam, BEL's chairman and managing director, said that six Swathi Mark II units were ordered.

“The six units ordered are the mountain version of the WLR, which are lighter in weight,” Ramalingam said. “The Indian Army operates around 30 of the older Mark I variants.”

According to a BEL source, the Mark I variant, which is spread across 8×8 wheeled Tatra trucks, comprises two vehicles weighing 30 and 28 tons. The Mark II variant, which is based across two 6×6 wheeled Tatra trucks, weighs 18 tons each. “This is to satisfy the army's primary requirement that the platform should comply with bridging capacities,” the source said.

Douglas Bush (left), then the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, and Timothy Goddette (right), at a ceremony at the Detroit Arsenal in Michigan in May 2021. (Ted Beupre)

Douglas Bush's tenure helping guide and craft defence policy from the legislative side of the government is a driving force behind several key priorities guiding his time as the Assistant Secretary of the US Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, he recently told Janes .

After a handful of years donning the army uniform, Bush spent nearly two decades as a Congressional staff member, including 14 years working for the House Armed Services Committee. On this committee, he helped lawmakers craft their annual defence oversight bill at a time when the army encountered several high-profile acquisition setbacks including the demise of the Future Combat System (FCS), Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, and Ground Combat Vehicle programme.

Meprolight Tigon, which was unveiled at Eurosatory 2022. (Meprolight)

Meprolight, part of the SK Group, provided further details of its recently unveiled Tigon hybrid sight at Eurosatory 2022 in Paris.

The Tigon combines a standard red-dot-type sight with a thermal sight in a single unit, with the ability to seamlessly transition from the red dot to the thermal channel.

The day sight is similar to the company's existing Mepro M5, offering a wide field-of-view (FOV) window used to display the sight's reticle. The model shown at Eurosatory used an outer interrupted ring with an inner aiming dot.

Four brightness settings are available on the sight, which can be manually adjusted using the push buttons on the left-hand side of the sight housing. Alternatively, the sight features a sensor that can automatically adjust the brightness of the reticle based on ambient light levels.