The IOL GARUD binoculars mark India Optel Limited's first move into the civilian market, a defence grade optical instrument the state owned company put on show in New Delhi on Thursday. The launch was made in the presence of Joint Secretary (Land Systems) Dr Garima Bhagat at DPSU Bhawan.

India Optel Limited is a Mini Ratna Category-I Defence Public Sector Undertaking under the Department of Defence Production. It described GARUD as an indigenous product built on the optical know-how it supplies to the armed forces, and developed at its Ordnance Factory in Dehradun.

It is a straightforward proposition. A maker that has spent decades building sights and sensors for soldiers is now selling a binocular anyone can buy.

Inside the IOL GARUD binoculars

The IOL GARUD binoculars offer 8x magnification and a 7.6 degree field of view, a combination meant to hold a distant subject in view without narrowing the frame too far. The eyepieces carry a focus adjustment of plus or minus five diopters, so a user can tune each side to their own eyesight.

The body is built for long spells in the hand. Soft touch eyecups sit against the face, the grip is shaped to stay secure, and the housing is weather resistant for use in rain, dust and shifting light. It weighs about 610 grams.

Where it is meant to be used

India Optel has pitched the binocular across a wide civilian spread: birdwatching, wildlife observation, nature trips, travel, sport, forestry and marine use, alongside security related tasks. The 1943 precision optics lineage the company invokes is the pedigree it sets against the imported optics that fill the consumer shelf.

From service optics to a civilian shelf

GARUD is less a fresh design than a civilian turn for an existing one. The company said the product draws on a binocular platform already carried by the Defence Forces and the Central Armed Police Forces in demanding conditions, and that the launch brings that tested optical capability to the general public for the first time.

That pedigree is the pitch. India Optel is the government's principal maker of military optics, and its catalogue runs to electro-optical sensors, weapon sights and night vision. The move into consumer sales sits alongside a broader run of indigenous optics work, from night vision weapon sights for the infantry to day sights bought for the Army's light machine guns, and forms part of the government's wider drive on defence production and exports.

India Optel and the ordnance factory lineage

India Optel Limited took its present shape on 1 October 2021, when the Ordnance Factory Board was wound up and its 41 production units were folded into seven government owned defence companies. IOL inherited the board's optics estate, the units making electro-optical sensors, weapon sights and communication equipment, and set up at Dehradun.

One of seven successor companies

The reorganisation was meant to give the old ordnance factories the autonomy of corporate firms while keeping them wholly in state hands. For a house whose optical work traces back to 1943, GARUD carries that defence grade base into an ordinary buyer's hands for the first time.

The launch at DPSU Bhawan

Dr Garima Bhagat, Joint Secretary (Land Systems), presided over the launch at DPSU Bhawan in New Delhi. The company framed GARUD as an expression of Aatmanirbhar Bharat through indigenous design and manufacturing.

The event drew senior officials from the Department of Defence Production, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Central Armed Police Forces and the Wildlife Society of India, along with members of the India Optel board and its senior officers. The Ministry of Defence announced the launch the same day.