India
Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Godrej & Boyce is one of the largest and oldest privately held corporations in India. It is the holding company of the Godrej group, one of India’s largest industrial houses. In the fiscal year ending in 2022, the combined revenues of the Godrej group, its subsidiaries, and affiliates amounted to $1.5 billion. The group has 164 major businesses and its machine tools, toolings, and precision equipment divisions are involved in India’s space and missile programs.
Godrej manufactures:
- Heat-treatment furnaces used for heat treatment of low alloy high-strength steels, ultra-high strength steels, maraging steels, precipitation hardening steels, and heat treatable aluminum alloys used in missiles developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program.
- Parts of the airframe such as propellant and oxidizer tanks for the Prithvi ballistic missiles.
- Vikas liquid-fuel engines for the Indian Space Research Organization’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle program.
Glossary
- Ballistic missile
- A delivery vehicle powered by a liquid or solid fueled rocket that primarily travels in a ballistic (free-fall) trajectory. The flight of a ballistic missile includes three phases: 1) boost phase, where the rocket generates thrust to launch the missile into flight; 2) midcourse phase, where the missile coasts in an arc under the influence of gravity; and 3) terminal phase, in which the missile descends towards its target. Ballistic missiles can be characterized by three key parameters - range, payload, and Circular Error Probable (CEP), or targeting precision. Ballistic missiles are primarily intended for use against ground targets.
Sources
[1] Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., www.godrej.com, accessed February 2023.
[2] Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., www.godrej.com.
[3] Dr. N.C. Birla and B.S. Murthy, eds., “Airframe Structures and Composite Components,” Indian Defence Technology: Missile Systems (1998: DRDO, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi), pp. 58-59.
[4] Dr. N.C. Birla and B.S. Murthy, eds., “Fabrication and Manufacturing Technologies,” pp. 89-90.
[5] “Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.,” Federation of American Scientists, www.fas.org.