SQAE Providing Quality Assurance For Ammunition For 150 yrs

PUNE: The Senior Quality Assurance Establishment (SQAE) (Armaments) under the Director General of Quality Assurance (DGQA), which came up with Ammunition Factory Khadki (AFK) in 1869, is celebrating its 150th anniversary. 

It provides quality assurance for all ammunition stores manufactured at AFK before being released to the Defence forces.

Col KJ Sarvaiya from SQAE said SQAE(A) was established along with Ammunition Factory as Proof Section. “The SQAE(A) played a commendable role in both World Wars. In independent India, it played a decisive role in the Chinese aggression of 1962 and the wars with Pakistan. The core objective and theme of 150 years of functioning of this establishment is inherent in its sustained ability to assure quality of ammunition produced by AFK and also actively assist in new developments by giving technical guidance,” he said.

In 1959, the Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) and Controllerate of Quality Assurance(Armaments), Khadki were created and parent unit was redesignated as Inspectorate of Armaments, Khadki and finally took its present name of SQAE (Armts) in October 1987.

BN Nimal and Joe Philips of this establishment brought laurels to India in the hockey tournament in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and Vasant Ranjane was the Indian Opening Bowler against West Indies in 1962-63.

Need of Senior Quality Assurance Establishment

• The British established this factory to win the battles by producing state-of-the-art ammunition in India, after the First War of Independence, also called as Sepoy mutiny of 1857. The cartridges manufactured at Dum Dum in Bengal were greased in animal tallow for lubrication and this was then covered with paper. The paper had to be bitten off by the soldier before inserting the cartridges in the small arms. 
• The British introduced the Enfield rifle in the Indian Army in 1853 for which these cartridges were manufactured at Dum Dum.  The soldiers of the Bengal Presidency took umbrage at the prospect of biting off the paper covering the animal tallow on the cartridge. This along with other reasons sparked off the 1857 war.  
• Hence, in 1868, the Secretary of State sanctioned the establishment of two small arms ammunition factories at Khadki and Dum Dum. Thus the Proof Section  along with Ammunition Factory came into existence in 1869.