India's Reliance signs ammunition deal with Diehl

The Vulcano ammunition features an insensitive munition pre-fragmented tungsten splinter warhead. (Janes/Patrick Allen)

Indian company Reliance Defence, a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, has signed a partnership agreement with Diehl Defence to produce the German firm's Vulcano 155 mm terminally guided munition in India.

Reliance Defence said on 10 June that it will set up a production facility as part of the agreement in Watad Industrial Area in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. The new facility will be a part of Reliance Infrastructure's proposed defence manufacturing complex known as Dhirubhai Ambani Defence City (DADC).

Diehl said the manufacturing facility will eventually have an annual capacity to produce 200,000 artillery shells, 10,000 tonnes of explosives, and 2,000 tonnes of propellants. Diehl added that the agreement will be geared towards meeting Indian military requirements, but it did not elaborate. It is not clear whether Diehl or Reliance has signed contracts to deliver the weapon to the Indian military.

Diehl said the agreement follows another announced by the companies in 2019 to collaborate on ammunition production.

In October 2024 Reliance Infrastructure announced its plan to establish the DADC with the intention to manufacture products including small-, medium-, and large-calibre ammunition as well as terminally guided munitions and small arms for Indian and export markets.

According to Janes Weapons: Ammunition, the Vulcano is a 155 mm high-explosive (HE) projectile jointly developed by Diehl and Italian defence firm Leonardo. It features an inertial navigation system (INS)/GPS and a semi-active laser (SAL) terminal seeker. It has a maximum range of 70 km.

Neither Reliance nor Diehl had responded to Janes queries at the time of publication.

For more information, please seeIndia's Reliance Defence signs ammunition deal with Rheinmetall .