DRDO, PSU and Private Defence Sector News

[RPK]

The DRDO’s life sciences laboratories work to increase the efficiency of soldiers.

The reconaissance vehicle, which is designed to detect and demarcate areas affected by nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and transmit data to the control centre.

IT has been a silent march for five decades by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which shuns the limelight and prefers to let its work do the talking. Its mission: self-reliance in defence technologies. In the past 10 years alone, DRDO-developed systems have won production orders worth around Rs.40,000 crore. They cover a wide range: battle tanks, missiles, radars, electronic warfare systems, sonars, mini-submarines, unmanned aerial vehicles, explosives, propellants, armaments, bridge-laying tanks, heavy-duty parachutes, and defence technologies against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) warfare.

Other DRDO-developed products include strategically important material such as Kanchan armour used in the main battle tank Arjun, steel for building weapon-platforms on ships, titanium sponge which has medical applications, and composites for use in the nose-cone of missiles.

The DRDO’s nine life sciences laboratories have developed portable bags for treatment of high-altitude pulmonary oedema, escape suits for submariners, protective clothing for soldiers posted in Siachen and integrated life-support systems, including helmets, flying overalls and anti-G suits for Indian Air Force pilots. They have also developed diagnostic kits for dengue, malaria, typhoid and leptospirosis. The Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) in Leh has bred a hybrid broiler sheep for round-the-year availability of fresh meat at high altitudes for soldiers.

The other laboratories are Defence Bio-engineering and Electro-Medical Laboratory (DEBEL), Bangalore; Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research (DIBER), Haldwani, Uttarakhand; Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore; Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), Delhi; Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), Delhi; Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior; Defence Research Laboratory (DRL), Tezpur, Assam; and Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi.

The integrated field shelter, which can accommodate up to 30 people for four days in the event of an NBC attack.

The DRDO considers the Army, the Navy and the Air Force as “partners in development and not merely users”, said W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, R&D (Life Sciences and Human Resources), DRDO.

The DRDO began its journey on January 1, 1958, as an organisation to advise the armed forces on its needs. Today, it is a generator, integrator and deliverer of systems and also provides spin-off technologies to society at large. “The DRDO plays a vital role in providing cutting-edge technologies to the services, in the development of industries, and in academic growth as well,” said Selvamurthy.

Its network of 52 laboratories and centres makes the DRDO one of the finest R&D organisations in the world. In the coming years, said Selvamurthy, the DRDO’s thrust would be to involve the private sector in R&D work, such as the preparation of engineering drawings, the integration of defence systems, testing and evaluation, and in the manufacturing of products. “In the 11th Plan (2007-2012), we will involve small and medium industries in R&D activities,” he said.

LINKS WITH ACADEMIA

The DRDO involves academic institutions, too, in R&D by providing them extramural projects. It has research boards in the areas of aeronautics, naval technology, armaments and life sciences, which fund basic research in academic institutions. Centres of excellence set up by it in Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, the University of Hyderabad, and the University of Calcutta focus on life sciences, high energy materials and microwaves and matter respectively.

In the area of NBC defence technologies, the DRDO has helped India achieve a high level of self-reliance. Of the 60 products it has developed, about 45 are in use in the services. These fall into five categories: systems for early detection, equipment for personal protection, systems for collective protection, equipment for decontamination, and products for medical management. Said Selvamurthy: “In the past five years, we have developed [NBC defence] systems and products worth more than Rs.500 crore, which have been inducted into the services.”

A suit developed for protection against NBC agents.

A radar to detect attacks by NBC material is under development. “This is a futuristic development for the 11th and 12th Plans,” Selvamurthy said. A Rs.300-crore project to develop new NBC defence equipment and products, where small and medium industries will be stake-holders in production, is on the anvil.DRDO-developed systems and sensors that monitor the environment can warn of a nuclear weapon strike. They include pocket dosimeters and portable dose rate metres to measure gamma radiation; radiac metre personnel locket (RPL) dosimeter to measure the gamma and neutron radiation received by a soldier in nuclear warfare; an integrated control panel to provide early warnings against NBC threats; and a Roentgenometer with a flash sensor that will detect the flash of light that accompanies the explosion of a nuclear weapon.

“In the event of the use of chemical weapons, we have developed a portable gas chromotograph which can detect 20 chemicals at a time,” said Selvamurthy. These chemical warfare agents include nerve agents such as Suman, Serin and Tabun, blister-causing agents and cyanide. The DRDO has developed a kit to detect residual vapour of chemical agents and nerve agents and a kit to find out whether water sources have been poisoned by cyanide or nerve agents.

“We have developed a three-coloured paper to find out whether a chemical agent has been used. Just by noticing the change in the colour of the paper, a jawan will know whether a chemical agent has been used and wear protective clothing,” the Chief Controller said.

W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, R&D (Life Sciences and Human Resources), DRDO.

The DRDO has also fabricated a protective clothing ensemble in the event of the use of NBC warfare agents. It includes a canister with a respiratory mask to prevent the inhalation of radiation or chemical or biological warfare agent particles. The canister and mask are powerful enough to filter agents up to 0.13 microns. For collective protection against NBC agents, there are integrated field shelters that can be assembled underground. Each unit can accommodate 30 individuals and has essential supplies that can last four days. The armed forces have bought them in large numbers. An interesting product is the sturdy reconnaissance vehicle that can detect NBC-contaminated areas and transmit data to control centres. There is also a mobile nuclear field laboratory to measure radioactivity in the environment. Technologies, solutions and apparatus have rolled out of the DRDO laboratories for decontaminating personnel, terrain, vehicles, aircraft and equipment in the event of an NBC attack. A decontamination system mounted on a Tatra vehicle can clean affected areas. There are medical management products, too, including an auto-jet injector. Soldiers exposed to nerve agents can inject themselves with twin antidotes – atrophine sulphate and PAM (pralidoxime chloride).

FOOD AND HEALTH

The Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences has devised 18 ration-scales to meet the nutritional and energy requirements of personnel operating in various weather conditions. It has also developed survival rations and nutrition scales for Sainik school pupils.

The DFRL has developed a wide range of ready-to-eat food products that can be consumed after a little warming. They include flavoured chappattis, sooji halwa, vegetable pulav, potato peas curry, aloo paratha, composite pack rations for mountaineers and trekkers, instant basmati rice and rajma curry, and tender coconut water (named Coco Jal).

If DIHAR at Leh has devised trench technologies for cultivating vegetables during extreme winters at high altitudes, the DIBER at Haldwani has designed greenhouses for cultivating vegetables round the year in snow-bound areas. Vegetables cultivated include tomato, cucumber, cabbage and capsicum. While the Army currently uses the DRDO’s three-stage acclimatisation procedure for soldiers posted in high altitude areas, the DRDO is now working on rapid induction. Said Selvamurthy: “We have taken it up as a major programme in the 11th Plan.”

 

[RPK]

HAL To Tie-Up With BAE Systems For Jaguar Upgrade

A high-level delegation from Britain led by British Minister for Defence Equipment and Support Quentin Davies recently visited India last week and proposed the upgradation of Indian Air Force’s (IAF) twin-engine Jaguar fighter jets. The British delegation held a meeting with Indian Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju.

At present, state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) undertakes the upgradation of Jaguars which will keep them in service till 2020. According to sources, the British delegation has conveyed to India that it can overcome problems related to licensed production of Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer at HAL and help in their upgradation.

The new Jaguar fighter jets will be incorporated with a new head down display capable of displaying a digital moving map, forward looking infra-red (FLIR) or video imagery. A new Sextant MFD 66 active matrix liquid crystal display will also replace the current projected map display. Another feature is the new video-based HUD camera and a multi-channel digital video color recorder which will allow the HUD, moving map display and other imagery to be recorded simultaneously. Navigational accuracy will be enhanced through the addition of an INS-RLG (SAGEM Sigma 95) and a Terrain Reference Navigation System (TRNS) is likely to be added. Another striking incorporation is of the new Open Systems Architecture Mission Computer (OSAMC) system which will carry out the mission computing and display functions. An ELTA-built airborne self-protection jammer and an indigenous radar warning receiver (RWR) will be installed.
India is incorporating indigenously developed systems and technology in the Jaguar fighter jet.The stealth technology, developed by the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), now is being incorporated on the 30 Jaguars being upgraded at HAL and it will be incorporated on the rest of the 139 Jaguars in phases. The stealth technology will enable the aircraft to escape detection by radar and reduce its signature to ground-based radar systems by up to 90 percent. Besides that, the communications and radio navigation systems are being built by HAL’s Hyderabad divisions while and the mission computer is being provided by the DRDO. HAL and DRDO have also joined hands to create software for the upgrades indigenously.

As for the international support for carrying out the Jaguar production and upgradation, a number of significant joint ventures and firms are supplying services and equipment. Thales of France is supplying autopilot systems for the Jaguar and Rafael of Israel is supplying laser designator pods. Elta Electronics Industries Limited of Israel is supplying a radar and electronic countermeasures besides the airborne self-protection jammer. Smiths Industries Aerospace, a leading transatlantic aerospace systems and equipment company, and HAL are jointly designing and developing the OSAMC system.

In Septemebr 2008, HAL completed the first phase of the upgrade programme for the Jaguar deep-penetration strike aircraft of IAF. The upgrade involved the installation of a new version of avionics, apart from other features which would make the planes more lethal in their assigned long-range, ground attack role. The main focus of the upgrade programme was to replace older avionics with a newer display attack ranging inertial navigation (Darin-3).

 

[RPK]

cross posting


Indigenous technology for Arjun tank and Tejas Aircraft

PIB Press Release

In Main Battle Tank, Arjun, the powerpack consisting of engine and transmission is imported from Germany, whereas the armament system, has been indigenously developed.

The engine used in Tejas Aircraft is imported from USA, whereas 70% of avionic systems integrated on Tejas is indigenous and 30% has been imported from Israel, France, Italy, United Kingdom and USA. Parallel efforts are being made for indigenizing remaining 30% of the avionic systems.

Only few countries in the world are currently capable of design and development of engines for aircraft and tank. These are exceptionally complex technologies and involve many disciplines and vast industrial base and capabilities. Hence development of these technologies take longer time.

Indigenous Kaveri engine development program for the Tejas aircraft is already under progress. To cater to the additional thrust requirement within the same engine envelope, co-development with an established and reputed international engine house is being contemplated.

A Project has also been proposed to develop indigenous engine and transmission on joint venture basis partnering with potential Indian Industries for Arjun Tank. DRDO has already commenced pre-project activities associated with this new development.

 

[nitesh]

Foreign firms keen on DRDO dengue spray - India - The Times of India

CHANDIGARH: The “lure and kill” spray — attracticide — developed by the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been attracting
buyers from abroad. Developed two years back, DRDO had allowed commercial use of technology to indigenous companies only despite keen interest evinced in it by foreign companies.

“The idea was to generate wealth for our country rather than sell it (attracticide) outside,” DRDO’s research and development chief controller Dr W Selvamurthy told TOI. However, passage of time has failed to deter parties interested in procuring the spray.

United States-based Cromptom Corporation, among the interested companies, has been pursuing the organisation for the transfer of technology with a rare determination.

 

[ironman]

Contract worth crores up for grabs as DRDO to outsource radar-work and battle management system​

04 Dec 2009 8ak: DRDO has decided to outsource a substantial portion of work to private sector in developing six to seven long-range tracking radars (LRTRs) at a cost of Rs 6,000-7,000 crores reports Economic Times.

The outsourcing would include everything from manufacturing ancillary gear to the sophisticated software needed to run these programmes. Some of the biggest firms like Bharat Electronics, Astra Microwave, Larsen & Toubro, ECIL, TCS and Wipro have shown interest in the project.

Apart from out-sourcing work on the LRTRs, DRDO has also decided to out-source work in the development of battlefield management system. The move has been welcomed by officials in the armed forces, who have been demanding that the presence of private sector in defence projects be increased in order to increase competition in the market. As of now, Indian defence PSUs face virtually no competition in the market as defence remains an area, where private funding is not encouraged by the Indian government.

An official posted in the South-bloc, on the condition of anonymity, has termed the move ‘as a new way forward in defence development.’ Adding further, he says that the private firms should grab the opportunity with both arms and prove their worth, so that a strong case can be prepared by the defence forces in tandem to allow private investments. This would benefit the armed forces in two ways – not only will it loosen the monopolist stranglehold of defunct defence PSUs and it will also make these PSUs more accountable due to increased competition in the market.
A note of caution. A similar development of UAV with DRDO failed to attract any private sector players because by the time the RFP came out the specifications were 6 years old and need 4 years of development time. Further, since DRDO did not consider the needs of the armed forces there were no guarantees that they would buy the system. We hope that DRDO has learnt from these mistakes. At a recent seminar on Energising Aerospace, a HAL spokeperson had mentioned that HAL is moving towards a model for being a systems integrator and a similar model may work for DRDO.

 

[Sridhar]

Missile warning systems for Army, IAF choppers

BY :Tribune News Service
Over a decade after an IAF chopper was shot down in combat over Kargil, Army Aviation and IAF helicopters will be equipped with indigenous missile approach warning systems (MAWS) and laser-warning receivers for self-defence.
Bharat Electronics (BEL) will initially produce about 70 such systems for the Army’s Cheetah helicopters. The lightest helicopter in the Indian inventory, Cheetahs are the lifeline of troops deployed at extreme altitudes in the northern sector and also perform vital recce and observation tasks in the forward areas.
The MAWS has been developed by the DRDO’s Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) and the DRDO claims to have successfully tested it on the IAF’s Avro transport aircraft before it was sought by the Army.
It will form part of an aircraft’s electronic warfare suite and detect an incoming anti-aircraft missile, provide advance warning to the cockpit crew for initiating evasive action and trigger defensive counter-measures like firing chaff flares or emitting false electronic signals to confuse and deflect hostile missiles.
The IAF and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) have also approached Dare to modify and validate this system for the IAF’s fleet of Mi-17 helicopters and the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) that is under development at HAL
The medium lift Mi-17s are the only armed helicopters currently capable of operating in the high altitude areas in Jammu and Kashmir. Other armed helicopters like the older Mi-8 or the Mi-35 gunships are not capable of high altitude operations.
The IAF had lost a Mi-17 along with its crew of four during strike missions when it suffered a hit by an enemy missile over the icy heights of Tololing in Kargil in May, 1999. The crew had carried out nine strike sorties. This year, the IAF had commemorated the sacrifices of the crew, who had been decorated with the Vayu Sena Medal.


Missile warning systems for Army, IAF choppers IDRW.ORG

 

[Sridhar]

India can manufacture only 8 Light Combat Aircraft a year’

BY : IANS
Despite a pending order from the Indian Air Force (IAF) for 20 light combat aircraft (LCA), India can manufacture only eight such aircraft annually, a senior Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) official has said.N. Shyama Rao, project director at the ADA, said Tuesday that while only eight LCA could be manufactured annually, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a public sector undertaking unit involved in the manufacture of the LCA, would undertake a massive recruitment drive in order to expand the scope of production of the fighter planes.
‘Currently we can manufacture 8 aircraft per annum, which is extendable up to 12,’ Rao said at a press conference at the INS Hansa, a naval base in Goa 30 km from here.
He also said that HAL in the near future could recruit nearly 500 officers to meet the challenge.
While the IAF has already ordered 20 LCA to be delivered by 2013, they are expected to order 20 more of the fighter craft which was christened Tejas by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The LCA will replace the IAF’s ageing Mig 21-fleet, while the naval version of the LCA will replace the maritime force’s fleet of Sea Harriers.
‘Even the Indian Navy will be ordering the LCA once the ski jump trials are validated,’ Air Vice Marshal Shankar Mani told reporters, adding that the naval version was still in the prototype phase.
The ski jump trials, which are compulsory for the naval version of the LCA, will enable the fighter craft to land and take off from the deck of aircraft carriers. ‘After spending some initial years on shore bases, the LCAs will also be posted onboard the Gorshkov, once it joins the Indian fleet,’ Mani said.
He said addition of the LCA to the IAF fleet would help close the gap between the subsonic Kiran aircraft and the supersonic Mig 21.
Armed with air to air, air to ground missiles and a bomb carrying a 1,000 pound payload, the LCA, which clocked in excess of 1,350 kmph during a trial off Goa Tuesday, is expected to cost Rs.150 crore per aircraft.
P.N. Subramanium, project director at the ADA, said the LCA represented fourth generation technology. ‘The LCA is contemporary in every sense, whether it is in terms of sensors, electronic systems, technology, weaponry, etc,’ he said.
The indigenously made fighter plane which has been flown by more than a dozen test pilots so far will be ready for induction into the IAF by 2010.
‘India can manufacture only 8 Light Combat Aircraft a year’ IDRW.ORG

 

[Sridhar]

Boeing orders $600mln from India defence companies

BY : Reuters
U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co said on Monday it has started sourcing equipment worth more than $600 million from Indian firms for submarine fighting planes it is building for India.
India signed a $2.1 billion contract with Boeing in January to procure eight P-8I aircraft for its navy as part of an overhaul of the South Asian nation’s mainly old Soviet military hardware.
“We have started to place contracts worth over $600 million with Indian companies, which will include supply of defence equipment for manufacturing the P-8I planes,” Vivek Lall, India country head of Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems told Reuters in an interview.
“Suppliers recently awarded for this contract include Electronics Corporation of India, HAL’s (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) avionics division and Bharat Electronics Ltd,” Lall said.
India, which is fast becoming one of the world’s biggest arms importers, wants the P-8I warfare planes by 2013, Lall said.
The contracts were issued to comply with government’s policy to manufacture 30 percent equipment locally on all defence deals with foreign companies, he said.
In October, the government changed its defence acquisition policy to allow domestic firms to bid for large defence contracts to open up the defence sector.
Until the policy change, local companies were not invited by the government to bid for big government defence projects and were left to supplying locally made, non-combative equipment.
The government wants foreign companies to collaborate with local manufacturers to make most of the equipment in India to save costs. Lall said the move would be a big boost to the domestic industry.
The country is looking to spend more than $50 billion over the next five years to modernise its weapons systems.
New Delhi also began field trials in August to buy 126 fighter jets in a $10.4 billion deal to modernise the air force.
Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, France’s Dassault Rafale, Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-16, Russia’s MiG-35, Sweden’s Saab JAS-39 Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon, produced by a consortium of European companies, are in the race for the contract, one of the biggest in play.
Lall said Boeing has completed two phases of the trials in India and if the company won the lucrative contract, it would manufacture 108 of these planes in India with help from local companies.
“The Indian content will eventually entail over 30,000 parts and over 4,000 assembly tools in the final phase of production,” Lall said. “We believe there are great opportunities in partnering with Indian private companies, surging into the defence market, offering defence products and services.”


Boeing orders $600mln from India defence companies IDRW.ORG

 

[Sridhar]

Radar scientists in short supply in India

BY : PTI
Top scientists today voiced concern over the dearth of young engineers in radio frequency and microwave space subjects in the country.
The concern was expressed ahead of an ‘international radar symposium-India’ beginning here Wednesday with 450-plus delegates expected to take part in the three-day event.
Director of Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), a DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) lab, S Varadarajan warned that indigenous radar design and development would “die” if the present trend continued.
India would miss a golden opportunity to establish itself as a major player in the field of radars, he told reporters.
Associate Director of ISRO Satellite Centre here, Dr S Pal, regretted that only one University offered a PG course on the subject of microwave, radio frequency and related areas of radar technology.


Radar scientists in short supply in India IDRW.ORG

 

[bengalraider]

India ready with "tiny spies in the skies"​

PTI

They could be termed "tiny spies in the skies".

Weighing just 300 gms and 300 millimetres long, Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) developed by India's aerospace scientists have a variety of applications, mainly in surveillance and disaster management.

These vehicles have a range of two to five kms, fly some 100 to 200 metres above ground for 30-40 minutes and take pictures of what's happening.

Significantly, they are not easily susceptible to radar detection as they are "not all of metal" and carbon fibres are used in making them, says Lt. Gen (Dr) V J Sundaram, one of the key scientists behind its conception.

In a typical battlefield scenario, MAVs come in handy as they can be sent a couple of kms ahead to survey the area where they would make an aerial circle, take images and come back, scientists said.

"It (an MAV) may be of the order of Rs seven lakh to Rs eight lakh, with 30 to 40 per cent of the cost being sensors", Sundaram, a former Director of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), said here.

MAVs, capable of carrying mission-specific sensors, are like any other (normal) aircraft -- they have navigation, control and guidance. "It rolls on the ground. It can fly also. Everything can be done".


Research and Development in MAVs was taken up a decade ago and has since been actively promoted by the National Design and Research Forum (NDRF), of which Sundaram is Advisor (Micro & Nano Systems), with support of Aeronautical Research and Development Board (AR&DB), DRDO, CSIR, educational institutions and private groups.

Now the MAV programme, a national research initiative, is about to be taken to the next level. Sundaram said a Rs 98 crore proposal has been submitted to the Government to approach the project in an integrated fashion and take it to the users in a big way.

"We have been doing little by little at various places. Now we want it to come as an integrated programme", he said. "You have to make it (MAV) rugged to withstand winds".

He expects funds (Rs 98 crore) to come in from Department of Science and Technology, DRDO and CSIR and from potential users such as the National Disaster Management Authority.

More than defence applications such as intelligence gathering by the Army, scientists are enthusiastic while talking about its benefits in the area of disaster management.

For example, in the case of floods, such MAVs can be sent to the affected areas which can't be reached by other modes so that they can take aerial pictures and come back.It would also come in handy in incidents of major fires and gas leakage.

Sundaram said scientists want to make MAVs simple to deploy, without the help of specialists, so that they can be used, even at district levels. "I want to give it to Tahsildars. Every district must have it. They must be able to use it. I am pushing it more for disaster management".

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[Rahul Singh]

Mahindra-NAL’s private aircraft to be launched soon

BY : Business – Standard

Mahindra Aerospace, the aerospace arm of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), is readying the prototype of a small private aircraft built in collaboration with state-owned National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL). The five-seater, turbo-prop aircraft, NM5-100, will be flown by March. Its first flight was earlier scheduled in mid-2009.

This is the first time Bangalore-based NAL has ventured into developing small-sized private aircraft with private participation. The institution, responsible for the design of the NM5-100, had earlier worked on designs for the Hansa trainer and Saras, a light transport aircraft. M&M has earlier manufactured and delivered 24 five-seater aircraft for Jordan-based Seabird Aviation Jordan. The planes were manufactured by M&M at the rate of 3-4 units per month. Each plane cost $400,000.

According to the previous agreement, a substantial part of the design and development of the NM5 will be done by NAL, while marketing and serial production of the plane will be done by M&;M

 

[nitesh]

defence.professionals | defpro.com

 

[nitesh]

ASIAN DEFENCE: DRDO’s focus: Deep penetration radars

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has directed its focus on developing radars useful for fighting low intensity conflicts (LICs). S Varadarajan, director of Electronic and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) - a DRDO affiliate - said they were working on developing radars that would capture images penetrating obstacles such as foliage and concrete walls. “These radars are urgently required by our security forces,” he said.

 

[pavanvenkatesh]

Good post but it is easier said then done with DRDO's reputation for delivery of critical technologies, first of there must be confirmation that DRDO has the technical know how to develop these technologies before giving statements, otherwise the LCA and Arjun case will be repeated and the ultimate loser will be the Armed forces

 

[nitesh]

some good news:

Shape Memory Alloys

Currently, the technology for the manufacture of Ni-Ti-Fe alloys and heat shrinkable sleeves are under transfer to Foundry & Forge Division of HAL, Bengaluru, where a plant dedicated to this purpose is being set up. When operational, this plant will be the only one in the country and amongst a few worldwide that manufacture shape memory alloys and heat shrinkable fasteners. Other components currently under development for application in LCA include heat shrinkable hydraulic coupling and thermally actuated valves.

 

[Rahul Singh]

Forward fuselage and cockpit mock-up of NAL-Mahindra NM5-100.

 

[RPK]

Chilli bombs to smoke out terrorists from hiding places

Indian herbs and spices— renowned for their medicinal powers — would now also battle terrorists during peace times and shield the people from effects of any nuclear, biological or chemical weapons attacks during war.

In a first of its kind initiative, experts of India’s premiere organisation engaged in developing defence technologies— the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)— are busy developing a unique non-lethal “Chilli-Grenade” stuffed with the world’s hottest red chillies ‘bhut jolakia’ of Assam to take on insurgents and rioters. They are also working on herbal protective measures to guard the fallout of the use of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons by an enemy during a war.

“The trials have been conducted for the chilli hand grenades. It gives out such a pungent smoke that either the person flees or comes out of one’s hiding place,”said DRDO’s Chief Controller (Research and Development) Dr W Selvamurthy.

He was in the city to participate in the Nobel Laureate Science Conclave-09 at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIIT-A).

The chilli bomb is non-lethal. “The smoke from it only brings tears to the person coming in contact and chokes his respiratory tract,” he explained.

The pungency of a chilli is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHUs), that is, the amount of capsaicin (a chemical compound that stimulates nerve endings in the skin) present.

“Until recently, fiery hot Red Savina Habaneros developed in Mexico with a rating of 350,000-580,000 SHUs was regarded the hottest chilli in the world. But we are using Bhut Jolakia chillies which experiments have showed to have a pungency of over a million SHUs,” he added.

Dr Selvamurthy said that in a separate project, the DRDO scientists are also working on finding extracts from herbal plants to produce agents to protect humans against radioactivity. “We are in advance stages of clinical trials of these products. At present there is only one chemical agent available to combat radioactivity, but that is very toxic and therefore dangerous to handle. The herbal products would counter this drawback,” he added

Extracts of two plants, podophylum hexandrum and the well-known seabuckthorn, are being used in the project being undertaken by three different DRDO laboratories at Leh, Delhi and Gwalior,” he explained.

 

[plugwater]

Meet India's own Robocop

Defence scientists have planned hi-tech protective gear with see-through-wall radar for commandos battling terrorists

In a bid to avert loss of soldiers and to make low intensity conflict more effective, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has embarked on a mission of turning the ordinary Indian soldier into a sophisticated Robocop.

"The need of the hour is to turn a soldier into a complete independent integrated system whereby he can have a defensive and a sensory system at his disposal whether it is in Jammu and Kashmir, the North East or in a situation like 26/11," said V K Saraswat, director general of DRDO.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the 7th International High Energy Materials Conference and Exhibit 2009, which was organised at the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).

A Subhananda Rao, director of HEMRL, which falls under DRDO, said, "This is going to be a multi-disciplinary effort. DRDO will bring together bio- scientists, communication engineers, computer experts, clothing experts and several others for making a prototype for a soldier along the lines of Robocop."

Meet India's own Robocop

 

[nitesh]

A base for progress

IN an article in The Hindu on November 13, 2009, (“Securing India’s science future”), N. R. Narayana Murthy, the founder of the global information technology major Infosys, bemoaned that India was lagging behind considerably in the quality and spread of basic science research despite its unique advantage to use technology for progress. “This is a critical lacuna that could well determine the fate not just of our scientific and developmental future but, more importantly, of our progress as a nation,” he said.

Three days later, the winners of the Infosys Prize, instituted by the Infosys Science Foundation “to honour outstanding researchers who make a difference to India’s scientific future and to motivate youngsters to consider careers in research”, were announced. While no suitable candidate was found for the prize in engineering, all three prizes in basic sciences went to names linked with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, one of the premier research institutions in the country. This is eloquent testimony to the continuing pre-eminence of the institute in the country even six decades and a half after its founding by the great visionary scientist Homi Jehangir Bhabha – when he was barely 36 years old.

His birth centenary is being celebrated this year. It is also a strong affirmation of Bhabha’s ideas about the characteristics that are essential for a research institution to become world class, in its academic canvas, its ambience and its administration.

It all began with a letter that Bhabha wrote to his friend and industrialist J.R.D. Tata in August 1943. He was a reader at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, then. Bhabha had come to India from Cambridge on a brief holiday in 1939, but the Second World War forced him to stay back. Bhabha joined the IISc’s physics department, which was headed by Sir C.V. Raman, and established a Cosmic Ray Research Unit (CRRU) there. He also began wondering about the development of science in India and in his letter to Tata expressed his ideas about setting up an institute for fundamental research.

Interestingly, it was under similar circumstances that Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobis, the scientist-institution builder, also stayed back and established the Indian Statistical Institutes.

“The lack of proper conditions and intelligent financial support,” Bhabha said in his letter to Tata, “hampers the development of science in India at the pace the talent in the country would warrant.” In his reply, Tata said: “If you and/or some of your colleagues in the scientific world put up concrete proposals backed by a sound case, I think there is a very good chance that the Sir Dorab Tata Trust will respond.”

Encouraged by this, Bhabha wrote to Sir Dorab Saklatvala, the chairman of the trust, in March 1944. “There is at the moment in India no big school of research in the fundamental problems of physics, both theoretical and experimental. There are, however, scattered all over India competent workers who are not doing as good work as they would do if brought together in one place under proper direction.… n the last two years I have come more and more to the view that provided proper appreciation and financial support are forthcoming, it is one’s duty to stay in one’s own country and build up schools comparable with those that other countries are fortunate in possessing.… I am convinced that within five years we could make Bombay the centre of fundamental physical research in India…. The scheme that I am now submitting to you is but an embryo from which I hope to build up in the course of time a school of physics comparable with the best anywhere.”

Tata backed Bhabha’s proposal, and on the trust’s approval, the institute was established on June 1, 1945, under a tripartite agreement between the trust, the Government of Bombay and the Government of India. Soon the TIFR emerged as a major research centre on the world map, a standing that it continues to enjoy to this day.

Though Bhabha’s idea was to set up the institute in Bombay (now Mumbai), it began to function from the CRRU. In six months it moved to Kenilworth, a bungalow owned by Bhabha’s aunt on Peddar Road in Bombay. As Bhabha recounted at the TIFR’s inauguration on December 19, 1945, eight papers were published within those six months by the institute members. Setting high standards for research, the first paper was by Bhabha himself. The paper, “Relativistic Wave Equations for the Elementary Particles”, was published in the special volume of Reviews of Modern Physics issued to commemorate the 60th birthday of Niels Bohr, one of the architects of quantum theory.

“Theoretical work,” he said in his address, “both the creation of new mathematics and the use of it in the description of nature is to form an important part of the work of this institute.” Soon the institute earned a worldwide reputation for frontranking research in theoretical physics and mathematics. Being adept in theory and experiment and having been instrumental in initiating cosmic ray research in the country in the 1940s, Bhabha also laid the foundations for experimental work at the institute
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DIVERSE AREAS

Initially, research was confined to theoretical physics, mathematics, cosmic rays and high energy physics – areas of direct interest to Bhabha. But in the years to come, research diversified to include areas such as nuclear physics, nuclear emulsion and electron magnetism, computer science and geophysics. Subsequently, molecular biology and radio astronomy were included and, later, science education as well.

The nuclear emulsion and the electron magnetism group started in 1953. Work in computer science and technology began in 1954, and the first pilot machine became operational in 1956. The institute pioneered research in the field and the full-scale machine, later named TIFRAC, was commissioned in February 1960. It was the first computer designed in the country.

Kenilworth was too small a place for such a rapidly expanding institute. In 1949, it was shifted to a location near the Gateway of India. Later it gradually moved to its present location, a 15-acre campus, on the sea-front in the cantonment area in Colaba. On January 15, 1962, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru formally inaugurated the TIFR buildings. Its architecture, aesthetic surroundings and the seaside promenade were designed by the famous Chicago architect Helmuth Bartsch. Nuclear physics was central to Bhabha’s scheme of things and he had emphasised its importance right from the beginning.

“It is neither possible nor desirable,” he had written to Sir Saklatvala, “to separate nuclear physics from cosmic rays since the two are closely connected theoretically.”

In the same letter he remarked: “[W]hen nuclear energy has been successfully applied for power generation in say a couple of decades from now, India will not have to look abroad for its experts but will find them readily at hand.” It is these words that laid the seeds for the development of atomic energy programme in India, with the early research and development in the field being carried out at the institute.

In 1953, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which was set up in 1948 at the instance of Bhabha, declared the TIFR “the only laboratory of the commission for fundamental research in atomic science”. The tripartite agreement came into force in 1955-56 following which the TIFR was designated as “the national centre of the Government of India for advanced study and fundamental research in nuclear science and mathematics”.

The agreement envisaged extensive financial support from the government and correspondingly a greater and more permanent representative for it on the Council of Management. Today, over 99 per cent of the institute’s expenditure is borne by the Indian government. The institute comes under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which was established in 1958, through which all grants are channelled.

The philosophy that had guided Bhabha in institution building was that all research in the beginning has to be built around a suitable person. In this he followed the example of Kaiser Wilhelm Society (now the Max Planck Society). He quoted its director in his inaugural address: “In order that its ideals may be fulfilled, it is necessary that the society should keep an intelligent watch on newer currents in scientific investigations and try to further its ideals by creating facilities for the new lines of investigations and by getting the right man for them.” He scrupulously stuck to this principle. His own stature attracted talented researchers from various fields to the TIFR and this increased the range and depth of activities at the institute.

SCHOOLS & CENTRES

For instance, in the early 1960s, both Bhabha and Mahalanobis identified Obaid Siddiqui as the right person to establish a school of biology at the TIFR and the ISI respectively. But Siddiqui joined the TIFR and built up a flourishing school of biological sciences. The school catalysed the growth of molecular biology research across the country.

Similarly, Bhabha attracted Govind Swarup from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi to start radio astronomy research at the TIFR. Swarup built an innovatively designed large equatorially mounted cylindrical Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) at Udhagamandalam in Tamil Nadu. The research that followed made the institute a major radio astronomy centre in the world.

Bhabha died in an air crash in 1966. In the 1970s, the institute included theoretical astrophysics and science education. Science education was not in its original mandate, but Bhabha was thinking about it as some of his letters to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru suggest. So, given its importance in society and with competent people at hand, the discipline became part of the institute’s charter.

The next two decades saw further expansion of the range of research activities and the founding of TIFR centres in other cities. With radio astronomy research at the institute making great strides and the proposal to set up a Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at Khodad near Pune taking shape, the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) was established in Pune. A major part of the NCRA’s research involves observations with the GMRT, the largest telescope at metre wavelengths in the world, which attracts radio astronomers from different countries. In its grand design and objectives, it is a worthy successor to the ORT.

Research in pure mathematics saw an expansion into more application-oriented areas in the 1970s, and this resulted in the Centre for Applicable Mathematics (CAM) in Bangalore. The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) was an offshoot of the increasing activities relating to school- and college-level science education.

With biology assuming centre stage in basic research all over the world and with the growing breadth of biological research at the institute, the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) was founded in Bangalore. It is a world-class centre today. And the latest in such efforts is the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), which was founded in 2007 for interdisciplinary research.

In addition, the TIFR has field stations and facilities across the country: the National Balloon Facility (NBF) in Hyderabad, the Cosmic Ray Laboratory at Udhagamandalam, the Gravitation Laboratory at Gauribidanur in Karnataka, the High Energy Gamma Ray Laboratories at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh and Hanle in Ladakh.

The work at the institute is carried out in three schools: mathematics, natural sciences, and technology and computer sciences. From its inception, the School of Mathematics has been internationally regarded for the quality of its research. Over the years it has attracted the best scientists in the world of mathematics to come and spend sabbaticals. In recognition of this, from 1956, the International Mathematical Union (IMU) instituted an international colloquium that is held every four years at the TIFR.

The Department of Theoretical Physics is known worldwide for its activities in front-line research areas. Today it has a vibrant group of young string theorists whose work is at the forefront of string theory. Research in quark-gluon plasma in the department has contributed significantly to the development of the field globally. The institute acquired an advanced supercomputer a few years ago to carry out highly computation-intensive work in the field. Studies in recent years have spanned beyond the traditional areas to include self-organised criticality, dimer coverings on lattices, the phase diagram of DNA, rapidly driven systems and quantum wires.

Cosmic ray research, an activity that came with Bhabha himself, forms part of the general area of high energy physics research at the institute.

COLLABORATIONS

The institute has had a long-standing tradition of international collaborations. The first deep underground neutrino experiments in the Kolar Gold Fields were carried out in collaboration with Japanese scientists. In recent years, the institute’s high energy physicists were part of major experiments at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, with Fermilab in the United States and with KEK in Japan. In fact, TIFR scientists made key contributions to the Large Electron-Positron collider experiments. They have a significant role in one of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments as well. The TIFR is one of the Tier-2 GRID computing centres for data handling from the LHC experiments.

Having pioneered underground neutrino research, TIFR scientists are involved in setting up an underground India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) following the closure of the Kolar mines. Balloon-based cosmic ray research is also conducted at an altitude of 40 km with the help of the NBF. Studies on the magnetic properties of solids that began in the 1950s using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and nuclear spectroscopy techniques led to the formation of the Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science.

The discovery of borocarbides, a class of high-temperature superconductors, at the TIFR has had a significant international impact. The department has also been engaged in the design and development of novel optoelectronic devices based on semiconductors, and thin superconducting films have been developed using laser techniques. Recently, researchers have initiated activities in soft condensed matter, an emerging field, which has already resulted in some interesting findings.

The Department of Nuclear and Atomic Physics is a leading centre in the country with a major thrust on molecular sciences. In the early 1990s, a heavy-ion accelerator, a 14 MV Pelletron, was built on the Mumbai campus. The tall structure, which is visible in photographs of the institute, has led to studies of nuclear matter at high excitation energies and angular momenta. An entirely indigenously built superconducting linear accelerator (sLINAC) helps boost the energies of particles from the Pelletron further, and the accelerator was declared a national facility in November 2007. The development of the sLINAC is a milestone in accelerator technology in India.

Another important development relates to the use of ultra-short (femtosecond) lasers, with very high peak powers to investigate ionised matter at extreme conditions. An offshoot of the early studies of magnetic properties of molecules, atoms and nuclei that began in the early 1950s is the Department of Chemical Sciences where life-sciences related studies on structures of nucleic acids and proteins, dynamics of protein folding and unfolding, chemical basis of neuronal communication, biological pathways in living cells, molecular self-assembly, and so on are carried out. A national facility for high field NMR, set up in 1983 with support from the Union Ministry’s Department of Science and Technology, is extensively used by the drug industry and other laboratories. A number of sophisticated optical instruments, such as the time-correlated single photon counting instrument, a multiphoton microscope and a fluorescence correlation spectrometer, have also been built in the department.

The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics carries out experimental studies over a wide range of wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum – optical, infrared, radio, X-rays and gamma rays. A major experimental activity relates to the designing and building of instruments for the first Indian multi-wavelength astronomy satellite, ASTROSAT. The fabrication of the specially designed X-ray mirror for the satellite marks a major development.

Theoretical work includes studies on black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, gravitational collapse, gravitational lensing, supernovae and the sun as well as the mathematical structure of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. At the NCRA, on the other hand, millisecond pulsars and the epoch of structure formation in the universe are studied using data from the GMRT.

Early work at the Department of Biological Sciences in the 1960s and 1970s focussed on molecular aspects of processes fundamental to the life sciences – recombination, gene regulation and protein structure. In the 1980s and 1990s, research diversified to study the genetic basis of more complex cellular processes such as brain function and development. Study of parasitic infections, particularly malaria, has been an area of research in the department. At the NCBS, which was established in 1991 as a result of the rapid growth in the range of activities in Mumbai, researchers are engaged in the study of nanoscale interactions in cells and systems biology. Recently, the NCBS joined hands with the IISc to establish a centre for neurological sciences at the IISc campus.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Early work in computer science was largely related to various technology- and application-oriented activities of computer design and fabrication, software development and computer education and training, especially under the United Nations Development Programme-sponsored National Centre for Software Development and Computer Technology (NCSDCT). This later became the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

The rest of the activities were consolidated as a new School of Technology and Computer Sciences in the late 1990s. Research here includes applied probability, computational geometry, computational mathematics, computer security, signal processing, formal methods and stochastic modelling and learning.

 

[nitesh]

continued................


In science education, the HBCSE conducts research in cognition in scientific learning and is involved in curriculum development, aspects of science and mathematics education and popularisation of science, including textbook writing. In recent years, the centre has become the training ground for youngsters selected to participate in international olympiads in various subjects, and this has produced very encouraging results. The centre has also a special programme focussing on the problems of the underprivileged.

Besides pioneering computer technology development, the TIFR has developed technologies for applications in accelerators, microwave communications, software and semiconductor technology. Some of these activities nucleated to create specialised centres such as the NCST and the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) under the Ministry.

Computer scientists from the TIFR have played significant roles in defence projects such as the Air Defence Ground Environment System (ADGES) and the Army Radio Engineering Network (AREN) and in setting up technology organisations such as CMC Ltd and the Centre for the Development of Telematics (C-DoT).


SCIENCE EDUCATION

The institute has about 240 members on the academic faculty; 160 of them are based in Mumbai. Key to the continuing excellence at the institute is the graduate school, which was established in the late 1960s. Students are selected from a nationwide “open-to-all” written examination. Nearly 10,000 students took the test last year. At present, there are about 300 students in the programme. These students become part of the research activities at the institute and work towards their doctoral degree after their course work, which is a licence to a challenging research career. Until 2002, students received their doctorates from the University of Bombay. Now the institute is a “deemed university” and grants degrees on its own.

The acquisition of a 200-acre plot at the periphery of the Central University campus in Hyderabad points to greater expansion and a wider range of activities at the TIFR. The new campus is expected to facilitate collaborative research with the university and other research and educational institutions in the region. The institute’s authorities envisage that the number of students and postdoctoral fellows at the new campus will be about 1,200 and 300 respectively.

New initiatives at the Mumbai and Hyderabad centres are expected to include research laboratories for high field magnetic resonance, extremely high laser fields, novel imaging technologies, ultra-high resolution electron spectroscopy, matter under extreme conditions, soft matter, study of human biology and model organisms, quantum phenomena and mesoscopic science and optics and a broader range of theoretical research to complement these.