Last month, India had inked a pact with Singapore and agreed to provide access to its missile test facility at Chandipur

BALASORE: Integrated Test Range (ITR), the premier Defence R&D Establishment, engaged in testing and evaluation of rockets and air-borne systems, is ready to meet the requirements of friendly nations, said its Director Binay Kumar Das. Speaking at the 37th Lab Raising Day of the test facility on Sunday, he said several friendly nations, including Singapore, have expressed their willingness to use the test range for evaluation of weapon systems.

"We are ready to face new challenges ahead and will continue to perform better in days to come. ITR has the world’s best range facilities. We have set a new vision - 'One team, billion dreams' with an objective to transform the facility as well as the lives of citizens of Chandipur and Balasore," he said.

Last month, India had inked a pact with Singapore and agreed to provide access to its missile test facility at Chandipur. The MoU was signed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Singapore counterpart Dr Ng Eng Hen during the former’s visit to the country to participate in the 4th Singapore-India defence ministers’ dialogue.

ITR is the launch pad of India’s missile systems, including nuclear-capable Prithvi and Agni series of ballistic missiles, cruise missile BrahMos and Nirbhay as well as surface-to-air missiles Akash and Barak 8 and air-to-air Astra.

BPUT Vice Chancellor Prof Chitta Ranjan Tripathy congratulated the ITR team for the extraordinary achievements of the past year. He wished the team would work with enthusiasm to bring more laurels to the laboratory in future.

ITR Associate Director PC Routray said the facility will continue to fulfil its social responsibilities to ensure a clean and green environment as well as providing state of the art health care facilities.

An in-house tri-lingual magazine ‘Utkarsh’ comprising literary works of employees and their family members was unveiled on the occasion. Among others, Chairman, Works Committee Anup Kumar Sahu, Secretary SK Rout, Chairman of Raising Day MK Pal and Vice Chairman SC Patra were present.