DRDO, PSU and Private Defence Sector News

[nitesh]

Some thing for people who rants against DRDO

Self-Reliance in DRDO

RDO is concentrating only on development of strategic, complex and security sensitive systems. DRDO has developed a number of systems/products/technologies worth Rs. 30,000 crore which have already been inducted into Armed Forces, besides a large numbers are in the process of development production and induction.

DRDO has also been developing need based products for Armed Forces operating at high altitudes, deserts, rain forest, deep sea, etc. To increase their operational efficiency. These products are extremely useful in protecting our soldiers against adverse environmental conditions. Technologies, developed by DRDO, have been transferred to industries for their bulk production to meet the demands of Armed Forces.

 

[Chota]

Collage of DRDO/ISRO Aircrafts and Rockets

Index

[SIZE=1]A -  PSLV Upper stage[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]B - GSLV Stages[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]C - ISRO SRE[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]D - Air breaathing engine module (DMRJ)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]E - ISRO RLV[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]F - ISRO RLV Descent Module[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]G - ISRO Crew Return Modules[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]H - DRDO Agni RV[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]I - NAL SARAS[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]J - HAL SITARA[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]K - ISRO RLV Descent Module[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]L - ISRO GSLV MK3[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]M - ? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]N -  ? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]O - ISRO PSLV XL[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]P -  ? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]Q -  ? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]R -  DRDO ASTRA ? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]S - DRDO Shourya ?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]T - HAL/ADA Tejas[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]U -  ? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]V -  ? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]W - DRDO HSTDV

[/SIZE]

Do I see in Nirbhay in "?"

 

[enlightened1]

I think N is the Sudarshan LGB. V likely to be the Nirbhay CM. Where did you get this?

 

[Chota]

From http://www.icast.org.in/Resources/Dwttfi1.pdf

 

[Chota]

M,Q,U are 3 intresting missiles.

R looks to be short and fat for an ASTRA

 

[nitesh]

another delay:

BEL's radar joint venture push hits air-pocket

 

[ppgj]

another delay:

BEL's radar joint venture push hits air-pocket

seeker technology is very sophisticated and critical. it is very difficult to get foreign firms to part with it. best hope is Russia.

 

[Agantrope]

When our neighbours are improving with High Speed rails, Why cant our PSU like BEML and BHEL can jump into this arena and makes a hanuman leap? After all high speed railways are handy when comes to vast number of troops movement.

India is really in pathetic situation now.

 

[nitesh]

When our neighbours are improving with High Speed rails, Why cant our PSU like BEML and BHEL can jump into this arena and makes a hanuman leap? After all high speed railways are handy when comes to vast number of troops movement.

India is really in pathetic situation now.

What are you trying to say here. Can't make head and tail of it

 

[rajkoumar]

DRDO Laboratories

Synconistation and coordination of all this labs for fast developement in time in india it's mission impossible. with all their administration procedures and inter politics of bureaucrats.

 

[mattster]

As India moves up the value chain in developing higher tech defense items indigenously especially those that have taken other countries years of research and trial and error to perfect; it is only natural that the countries that possess these technologies are going to balk.

They may share technology that is one or 2 generations old but they are not going to give you the secret recipe to the sauce.

For India, this is going to become a common story. even if you are willing to pay, they may not want to share the technology.

China faces the same issue, and they spend a lot of money of industrial espionage to complement the local research programs.

The only way to beat this is to build up a strong R&D capability thru academic/private enterprise/govt labs coorperation.

 

[venkat]

ppgj! as you have rightly pointed out that nobody will part missile sseker tech!!! The best thing is to adapt beg,borrow ,steal...the way chinese do....BARC/ECIL have had some success on making DSP controlled gimabal mechanism.only thing coordination is required between org like BEL,ECIL/BARC,HAL. Pvt sector can enter very well in to this field...but nobody wants to invest money and they look for immediate returns.The Russian missile seeker firm AGAT has a very wide range of seekers to its credit.we can have a desi mix with co-op between DRDO.ECIL/BARC,BEL and HAL. A similar Antenna scanning system has been sucessfully developedwith such an approach!!!

 

[Rahul Singh]

I do not know whether this was posted earlier or not, so posting. Delete it, if it was.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Scale model of NAL RTA-70 (turboprop version).

 

[RPK]

DRDO Supplies $6 Billion Weaponry To Defence Forces | India Defence Online

India’s defence research agency, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a number of systems worth $6 billion have been inducted into the Armed Forces. Announcing in the parliament Dec. 16, Defence Minister A K Antony said a large number of systems are in the process of development production and induction.

Antony said India is fully focussed towards enhancing self-reliance in military hardware. However, achieving self-reliance in this area is a joint responsibility that has to be met through national efforts by all Government agencies including Ministry of Defence, Defence Industries (both Public and private), Ordnance Factories and DRDO.

A press release issued by the Defence Ministry said , “ As per provisions in Defence Procurement Procedure for “Make” Category, DRDO is concentrating only on development of strategic, complex and security sensitive systems.”
DRDO has also been developing need based products for the Armed Forces operating at high altitudes, deserts, rain forest, deep sea, etc. To increase their operational efficiency. These products are extremely useful in protecting our soldiers against adverse environmental conditions. Technologies, developed by DRDO, have been transferred to industries for their bulk production to meet the demands of Armed Forces.

Antony informed the parliament that there are no financial constraints in DRDO to attract trained talents. Sixth Central Pay Commission has also recommended a number of incentives for scientists which have been accepted and implemented by the Government. Attrition of scientists has reduced in the last two years in DRDO.

 

[RPK]

DRDO Rolls Out Multi-Purpose Micro Air Vehicles | India Defence Online

Indian scientists from Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) are presently developing Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) for varied defence applications such as surveillance and disaster management. These MAVs are made of a unique mix of material and are not easily detectable by radars.

The research and development on the MAVs are promoted by the National Design and Research Forum (NDRF), with support of Aeronautical Research and Development Board (AR&DB), Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and various private groups.

The MAV are like tiny vehicles that work like spies in sky. They weigh only 300 gms and are 300 millimetres long. Since these MAVs are not entirely made of metal and carbon fibres, they are hard to intercept by radars and sensors. These MAVs have a range of two to five kilometers and they fly some 100 to 200 metres above the ground for 30-40 minutes and capture images.
Lt. Gen (Dr) V J Sundaram, key scientist behind the MAV who was the former Director DRDO said that the MAV may be of the order of $16,000 and the sensors alone will take up 30 to 40 per cent of the cost. As of now, the MAV programme has become a national research initiative and a proposal of $19.6 million has been submitted to the Government to approach the project in an integrated manner. While MAVs will come in handy for the Indian Defence Forces, it can also be applied in other areas such as disaster management since they can be easily operated and deployed.

The Indian defence research organisations first supported MAV concepts in 1998. A study of MAVs was initiated in 2002 and a “national perspectives” report was produced in April 2003. A decision to develop MAVs was taken in 2005 and in the same year there was a US-Indian workshop on the technology. A fixed-wing MAV project was proposed in 2006. In 2008, a prototype was produced for fixed, rotor and flapping-wing MAVs and work has been going on to enable technologies including navigation, power supply and launch and recovery.

 

[RPK]

DRDO To Partner With PVT Firms For Radar Projects | India Defence Online

As India inches closer towards the development of the advanced long-range tracking radars (LRTRs), the local private and state-owned firms are gearing up to benefit from the outsourcing contracts worth millions of dollars that will come their way.

The state-owned Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has indicated that it intends to outsource the majority of the work in developing six to seven LRTRs worth $1.2 billion. The latest range of radars being designed will be an upgraded version of the LRTR already developed by DRDO in collaboration with Israel. These LRTRs will detect small targets in the 600-800 kilometer range.

Indian private and public sector firms that have evinced interest in grabbing a chunk of business from the LRTR project include state-owned Bharat Electricals Limited (BEL) and Electricals Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) and private sector majors like Larsen & Toubro and Wipro. The outsourcing work for the LRTR will include manufacturing ancillary gear to the sophisticated software needed to run various programmes.
The Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), part of DRDO, develops radar systems and other related technologies for the defence forces. The latest feather in the cap of LRDE is the Long-range Solid State Active Phase Array Radar (LSTAR) programme. The LSTAR programme is a part of India’s prestigious India’s Airborne Early Warning and Control System programme. The LSTAR project has been approved by the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification. It has been integrated and tested on ground-based systems and qualified for airborne applications. The LRDE has developed the X-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology. The AESA technology allows ships and aircraft to broadcast powerful radar signals while they themselves remain under stealth. The AESA radar could be fitted on the indigenous ‘Tejas’ Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) by 2014 under the LSTAR project.

Indian Defence is also focusing towards more Battlefield Management Systems (BMS) and integrating the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. This includes the development of sensors, digitally enabled weapons, information grids which will enable the efficient functioning of the weapons and networking of data.

According to Indian Army officials, a fully digitized system has been integrated by the defence sector which is the artillery combat command and control system (ACCCS). The ‘Shakti’ ACCCS has been inducted and it is a network of military grade computers which provides decision support for all operational aspects of artillery functions from the corps down to the batteries. This ACCCS will be operational within an year at all levels of the artillery, officials added.

Other significant developments that will enhance the network-centric capabilities of the Indian defence includes the design and development of an UCAV (unmanned combat aerial vehicle) which will not only conduct surveillance, gather intelligence and transmit it but will also help detect the target and destroy identified objects.The UCAV can be controlled at various command control centres.

Currently, India has radars like the ‘Swordfish’ which has a range of 600 kilometres and the DRDO plans to upgrade the capacity of Swordfish to 1,500 km in a couple of years. The LRDE has also produced the Indra-1 and Indra -2 radars that work on the Doppler principle. Indra-1 has a 50 kilometre range and is integrated with the fire control radar. Indira-2, an improvement over Indira-1, was designed as per the needs of the IAF which wanted a radar that can identify dense-formation targets and can be used even at high altitudes. LRDE has also developed the ‘Bharani’, a portable, short-range, light-weight radar which provides 2D surveillance, mainly in mountainous terrain, against aerial targets. Besides that, LRDE’s portable Battle Field Surveillance Radar (BFSR) – Short Range has been developed and it is an all-weather automated detection of intrusions system was needed. Over 1,400 BFSRs are now being used by the Army against moving surface targets. A BFSR radar that offers foliage penetration is under development.

The LRDE has also developed an electronically scanned C-Band Doppler Weapon Locating Radar for use by the Artillery Corps called ‘Rohini’ which is a 3D, medium-range, vehicle-mounted surveillance radar that offers 360 degree coverage and has a range of 150-180 kilometre range. It is used against low, medium and high-flying targets. It is designed for the IAF and will also be part of the Akash missile system. LRDE has also developed ‘Aslesha’, a 3D low-level, light-weight radar designed for use in mountainous terrain and against aerial targets. There is also ‘Rajendra’ which is a multi-function, phased array radar and is the primary sensor at the battery level for the Akash weapon system. It can perform extensive searches, track multiple targets and missiles as well as command and guide multiple missiles concurrently.

 

[Sridhar]

C-band Rotary Field Phase Shifter
Neighbours Model

Phase shifters are critical elements for
electronically scanned phased array radars which
allow the beam to be steered at very high rate
resulting in multiple target acquisition and tracking
with multimode capability. The ferrite-based passive
phased array provides a cost-effective, well-proven
approach to achieving a high performance radar
antenna. Solid States Physics Laboratory (SSPL) has
recently developed a high performance C-band Rotary
Field Phase Shifter with integrated driver for intended
application in advanced Weapon Locating Radars
(WLR) and Battery Level Radars (BLR). The Rotary-
Field Ferrite Phase Shifter is uniquely designed to
provide unlimited phase shift with modulo-360 degree
linear phase control characteristics.
The frequency and temperature behaviour
of the individual elements in this class of phase
shifters does not degrade the phase performance
and dispense with the requirement of look up tables
unlike in dual mode phase shifters. The differential
phase shift is accurately varied by altering the angle
of the quadrupole magnetic ield which is generated
by driving sine and cosine weighted currents into
two orthogonal windings on a multi-pole yoke by a
microcontroller-based digital driver.

http://www.drdo.com/pub/nl/2009/nov-dec09.pdf

 

[nitesh]

cross posting:

DRDO gets nod for French tie-up for Kaveri project

BANGALORE: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been given the go-ahead by the government to take up an offer of French firm Snecma to ‘partner’ with the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) for jointly developing the Kaveri aero engine.

Senior GTRE officials told The Hindu that talks with Snecma “could start early next year.” The Kaveri’s eventual user, the Indian Air Force now appears to have softened its opposition to the tie-up, they said.

The Rs. 2,839-crore Kaveri engine programme was launched in 1989, specifically to power the Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas, now under development at the DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). In 2005, the GTRE indicated that it would not be able to develop the Kaveri engine on its own.

Interestingly, the government’s nod, which is expected to cost the exchequer at least Rs 1,000 crore, comes nine months after a team, headed by Air Vice-Marshal M. Matheswaran and comprising officials from the ADA, the IAF and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, submitted a report that stated that an engine developed jointly by Snecma and the GTRE would not meet the IAF’s performance requirements. The IAF also wanted the Kaveri project delinked from Tejas programme.

According to informed sources, members of the Matheswaran team were critical of the French passing off their existing and fully developed ‘Eco’ engine core. This, the team felt, would not give India the engine core design knowledge or even control over it. It also pointed out that the design technology being handed out would take years to come.

Based on the report, the French offer was put on the backburner with even officials from Snecma stating that the “chapter was closed.” But the IAF for reasons not yet clear, appear to have reversed its stand.

Snecma, which indicated that an engine run of at least 250 is required to make their offer economically viable, agrees that an existing core would be at the heart of the Snecma – GTRE Kaveri engine.

It, however, denies it would take years for handing over the design technology. It will take at least five years before the first production engine comes out.

Snecma chairman and chief executive officer Philippe Petitcolin told The Hindu: “Yes we first stated a 15-year period to hand over the design technology, but now we have indicated that the technology can be given as fast as the Indians can assimilate it.”

GTRE director Mohan Rao said the capabilities of “the existing French core will be enhanced to suit the IAF’s requirements.”

The GTRE hopes to use the Snecma – GTRE Kaveri to replace the GE F404 (IN20) engine that will fly two squadrons of the Tejas.

If all goes well the Snecma-GTRE tie-up could be formalised during the French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s planned visit to India in March –April 2010.

 

[Ritwik]

cross posting:

DRDO gets nod for French tie-up for Kaveri project

Does this enhance Rafale's chances in the MMRCA deal?

 

[RPK]

Steps taken to modify BrahMos missile: DRDO official

Nagercoil (TN), Dec 31 (PTI) Steps are being taken to modify the BrahMos missile to be used both by the Air Force and Army, Dr Siva Thanu Pillai, Chief Controller (R&D , Defence Research and Development Organisation said here today.

Efforts are on to develop the supersonic BrahMos-2 missile, Pillai, also CEO and MD, BrahMos Aerospace, told reporters.

Steps have been taken to manufacture parts of the missile from the Army Research Centre at Thiruvanathapuram and the "first stage" is in progress, he added.

BrahMos missile, a joint venture of India and Russia, was well received in the international community and some countries are eager to buy the missile, the DRDO chief controller added.

The test of an upgraded BrahMos supersonic cruise missile failed twice in this year after which the Army refused to accept the weapon unless proved. The third test, however, in March hit the bull's eye.


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