Nagpur: State government’s aim of making Mihan a defence and aerospace hub has got another shot in the arm with Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, allotting 27 acre land to a city-based startup in the special economic zone (SEZ).

JSR Dynamics, a company floated by air marshal (retd) SB Deo, plans to manufacture glide bombs, range extension kits, cruise missiles and loitering munitions. The company has promised to start construction immediately after allotment of land. It will generate 100 direct jobs in the beginning. Last month, JSR Dynamics had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Economic Explosives Ltd, a subsidiary of Nagpur-based Solar Group, for warheads, glide weapons and lightweight cruise missiles.

Deo told TOI that his company also plans to manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and helicopters in association with Bengaluru-based Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). “India is too much dependent on foreign companies for meeting its defence requirements. There is need to indigenize defence equipment production. We plan to do this,” he said. JSR had signed an MoU with BEL in February this year. He however, refused to reveal as to how he would fund his mega-venture.

If JSR’s plans take off then it will become the second major unit in Mihan. Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL) is already manufacturing cockpits of Dassault’s business jet Falcon 2000. It has plans to manufacture the entire aircraft at Mihan.

MADC is also holding talks with two aircraft manufacturing companies. So far, two to three rounds of talks have been held and the companies have showed a positive response. More rounds of talks would be held in the coming days. The final deal will, however, take some time to materialize.

The company is also expected to allot land to six players near the DRAL unit. These will be part of Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park (DAAP). DRAL is a part of DAAP, which has been given co-developer status in Mihan.

The decision to allot land to JSR was taken in MADC’s board meeting held on Wednesday. The progress on development of airports at Chandrapur, Amravati, Solapur, Purandar etc was also reviewed by Fadnavis, who is ex-officio chairman of the company.

Suresh Kakani, vice-chairman-cum-managing director of MADC, and principal secretaries of several departments and heads of various government agencies were present in the meeting.

