Akshay Jogani@kshayjogani
Until 2021, the Indian Army was still throwing a hand grenade the British designed in 1915. Grenade No. 36 Mk-I, a WW1-era weapon notorious for uneven fragmentation that occasionally maimed the thrower. Solar's EEL replaced it with 10 lakh Multi-Mode Hand Grenades and became the first private Indian company to supply complete ammunition to the armed forces.
That was only the opening act.
The deeper unlock came when DRDO transferred BrahMos solid propellant booster technology to Solar. India had been importing 35 boosters a year from Russia for its flagship cruise missile. ToT to a private company was a privilege normally reserved for DPSUs. Solar today supplies propellants and warheads across BrahMos, Pinaka, Akash and several other indigenous platforms.
Then Nagastra-1, India's first fully indigenous loitering munition at 75 percent local content. 480 units were delivered under emergency procurement in late 2024. Combat debut happened in Operation Sindoor.
January 2026, Rajnath Singh flagged off the first batch of Guided Pinaka rockets from Solar Defence and Aerospace's Nagpur plant. Armenia already buys it. Nigeria and Indonesia are next in the queue. Bhargavastra, the counter-drone system out of the same facility, was test-launched recently.
This company has quietly built a full stack in Indian defence: warhead chemistry, missile propellants, loitering munitions, guided rockets, counter-UAS.
The Padma Shri is absolutely well deserved.
Disclosure: not invested.
