Defence Ministry approves 17 baffle shooting ranges

With the objective of reducing risk of mishaps by stray bullets during practice by the Army, the Defence Ministry on Tuesday approved construction of 17 new baffle firing ranges all over the country. A baffle firing range provides a secure firing range with a perimeter - series of walls - surrounding the target area.  The total cost of the project is Rs 238 crores.

In the recent past several accidents of injuries due to stray bullets were reported from the civilian areas adjoining to army training ranges.  The baffle reduces the area required for practice and operations and considered to be the best solution for small arm training for the army.

Out of 17, seven ranges will be in the jurisdiction of the Southern Command, three will  go to the Eastern Command, two to the Northern Command and one each to the South Western and Central Commands. Similar one at Central Command is proposed for the Officers Training Academy(OTA), Gaya.

The ministry officials also said these 17 will be in addition to the 60 similar firing ranges existing all over the country.

The proposed baffle shooting ranges can facilitate firing from 300 to 500 meters.  Baffle firing ranges are covered shooting practice areas which prevent possible accidents due to stray bullet injuries. The possibility of such mishap has increased many folds in recent times due to growth of civilian population around the cantonments, officials said while adding that to prevent such casualties without affecting the training requirements of the armed forces, the Ministry has approved additional baffle ranges.

Availability of land for training is a major issue for armed forces and a baffle firing range provides a solution to it as it can be built on two hectares of land. Officials said the baffle walls of 9-metre high and 6.9-metre wide are made of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and two metres of the walls are covered with slurry infiltrated fibrous concrete (SIFCON) in the bottom. A fiber concrete panel of 22 metre is made to trap bullets, which allows six fires at a time.