The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Army to build modern firing range at Iblur

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Army to build modern firing range at Iblur

Ravi Sharma

BANGALORE: Faced with criticism after a stray bullet fired at the Iblur firing range by a recruit from the Air Force’s Defence Security Corps injured a passer by, the Army has decided to construct a new, state-of-the-art Baffle Firing Range at the Iblur firing range. The Iblur range, which is located at the Army’s 523-acre base has four individual ranges.

At the Baffle Range, the safety features that will take care of any ricochet include construction of 9.1-metre high and 6.9 m wide re-enforced cement concrete (RCC) baffle walls. The bottom 2 m of the baffle walls will be covered with Sifcon (Slurry Infiltrated Fibre Concrete) panels which are designed to trap bullets.

The new Baffle Range, of which there is only one other in the country (at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh), is expected to be ready by September 2009. Estimated to cost Rs 7.91 crore, the range has been designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory, Chandigarh. Disclosing details of the new firing range to The Hindu, Commander of Karnataka and Kerala Sub Area Brigadier Clement Samuel said that military and paramilitary units located within the Sub Area’s jurisdiction would send their troops for firing practice at the range. Personnel from the Madras Engineering Group, the Army Service Corps, the Pioneer Corps, the Para Regiment, besides the Air Force’s Training Command and some paramilitary units such as the Central Reserve Police Force will be using the new range, for what is a very important aspect in the basic training of recruits.

The Army, after many complaints, had been forced to temporarily cease firing. It has resumed doing so after taking steps to enhance safety. But they have stopped paramilitary personnel from using the range, and cut down the firing distance to just 100 m.

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