Hyderabad, July 8 : Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) on Thursday signed a contract worth about Rs 499 crore with the Ministry of Defence for manufacture and supply of Akash missiles to the Indian Air Force. The contract was signed by Air Commodore, Guided Weapons Maintenance, Ajay Singhal on behalf of the IAF and BDL Executive Director, Marketing, Commodore T.N. Kaul (retd) on behalf of BDL in the presence of BDL's Director, Production, P. Radhakrishna, in New Delhi. BDL CMD, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (retd) stated that BDL is supplying Akash missiles to the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force. With the announcement from the Union Cabinet regarding clearance of Akash Weapon System for export, the company is exploring to offer Akash for export to foreign countries. He said BDL has already received export leads from some countries expressing interest in procuring the missile. The company has a well-established infrastructure and expertise to execute these orders and meet the customer delivery schedule. BDL is the prime production agency for projects under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). Akash is one of the missiles under IGMDP being manufactured by BDL, both for Indian Army and Indian Air Force. The missile has been successfully test-fired on several occasions and is regarded as one of the best missiles in its category. The company also manufactures anti-tank guided missiles, air to air Missiles, air to surface weapons, launchers, test equipment, underwater weapons and counter-measure systems. The company has bagged new orders worth about Rs 2,803 crore (including taxes) during the FY 2020-21 which includes anti-tank guided missiles order worth about Rs 1,820 crore and surface to air missiles order worth about Rs 793 crore. With the contract signed for supply of Akash to Indian Air Force, the order book position now stands at about Rs 8,683 crore. The company is also aiming to expand its footprints in the international market by offering air to air missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, underwater weapons and counter-measure systems in addition to Akash missiles to friendly countries. /IANS