DRDO, PSU and Private Defence Sector News

[Prashant12]

DRDO transfers technology to MSMEs

CHENNAI: The two-day defence-industry interface organised in the city on Thursday and Friday resulted in 18 technology transfers from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to private enterprises. Many MSMEs were provided technical knowhow on manufacturing various defence equipment under the "Make in India" programme.
"DRDO alone transferred 18 technologies used by it to manufacture various equipment for the India Army, Navy and Air Force," said defence production secretary Ajay Kumar.

"The DRDO transferred technology for manufacturing 35-metre mountain footbridge to two companies. Similarly, one company received technology for making propellant for low thrust motor and high thrust motor of BrahMos missile," added Kumar.
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Technology for making advance bullet-proof vest was transferred to three companies. "Apart from transferring technologies from DRDO to private entrepreneurs, there was exchange of interest (EOI) between Naval Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), DRDO and Goa Shipyard Ltd for manufacture of indigenous ship based on DRDO technologies," he said.

More than 1,000 MSMEs from Chennai, Trichy, Coimbatore, Maharashtra and other places participated. "The companies that participated in the meet from Chennai manufacture aluminium-based products. The MSMEs from Coimbatore mostly deal in manufacturing of machinery. Since this is the first meeting with the MSMEs in TN, we also looked at the products they make to assess whether such products can be used by the DRDO, HAL and other defence companies," said Kumar.
The defence ministry is working on a list of equipment which can be manufactured by companies based in the country. Once the list is ready - in all probability within a month - a committee will scrutinise it. After that, the private companies interested in manufacturing them would be encouraged for their involvement, said the secretary. The ministry is confident that the MSMEs from TN would be ready to supply components in the coming months. "We will be happy even if 20 to 30 companies that have registered at our kiosk pass all the tests and trials and finally start to supply products," said the secretary.
Santhosh Savant, an entrepreneur from Thane in Maharashtra, said he had been supplying water radiators to bridge layer tanks manufactured by the DRDO. "For the past several years, my company has been supplying water radiators to DRDO. Two firms approached me asking whether I could supply components to suit their requirement. Since they are using Russian parts at present, they wanted me to rework on my product. They have suggested changes in quality of raw material too. I will sit with my team and work towards fulfilling their conditions," he said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...-technology-to-msmes/articleshow/62577747.cms

 

[AMCA]

Pressurized Missile Containers by Anjani Technoplast Ltd.........................

 

[NeXoft007]

A super heavy throwweight Indian missile isn't a fanboy rumor! It's real and it's possibly Surya.

 

[Hari Sud]

As a criticism I may add that, yes the DRDO after its inception became an organization of bureaucrats where boys and girls, some very brilliant and a few of my classmates were hired but like the regular federal government bureaucracy it had service rules where no work was the norm and promotion was based not on merits and work done but on seniority. Worthless scientists reached the top. The capable ones languished, some even left.

Yes, there is a shortage of ideas and one more difficulty which adds to its woes is shortage of foreign exchange to buy research equipment abroad if locally it was not available. Civil service procedure to acquire any new equipment was stuck in the red tape for years.

All these and more shortcomings denied the nation a first rate military hardware development.

In spite of these DRDO has done some wonderful developments. Under the leadership of Abdul Kalam, we owe it to them the development of Prithvi and Agni missiles. Also a very good Arjun tank, although unliked by the Indian Army, never the less a well made tank and a host of developments for LCA which made it possible for India to stand out a fighter jet development country etc.

Organizationally it cannot be improved, the DRDO has acquired a bureaucrats character. It has to be privatized and some very senior worthless managers have to be sent home.

 

[Tanmay]

Well as far as I know DRDO and PSU recruitments for engineers are through competitive exams like GATE. amongst the toughest exams in India. Probably the toughest technical exam. It's easier to crack GRE than GATE
So the talent base is excellent. Where we do lose is reservations. Especially reservations in promotions :/ With upto 50% reservations (judiciary imposed cap) there will be a lot of undeserving folks.
While it's not that all reservation based appointments are bad, but it ends up demoralising people when they see people being promoted on reservation basis, and themselves lagging behind despite merit

 

[NeXoft007]

Excerpt from interview on Brahmos. Agni 1 cannisterisation surely isn't possible. He meant Agni 1P. It seems Agni 1P will have hot launch mode (ignition inside cannister)

 

[Adioz]

As a criticism I may add that, yes the DRDO after its inception became an organization of bureaucrats where boys and girls, some very brilliant and a few of my classmates were hired but like the regular federal government bureaucracy it had service rules where no work was the norm and promotion was based not on merits and work done but on seniority. Worthless scientists reached the top. The capable ones languished, some even left.

Yes, there is a shortage of ideas and one more difficulty which adds to its woes is shortage of foreign exchange to buy research equipment abroad if locally it was not available. Civil service procedure to acquire any new equipment was stuck in the red tape for years.

All these and more shortcomings denied the nation a first rate military hardware development.

In spite of these DRDO has done some wonderful developments. Under the leadership of Abdul Kalam, we owe it to them the development of Prithvi and Agni missiles. Also a very good Arjun tank, although unliked by the Indian Army, never the less a well made tank and a host of developments for LCA which made it possible for India to stand out a fighter jet development country etc.

Organizationally it cannot be improved, the DRDO has acquired a bureaucrats character. It has to be privatized and some very senior worthless managers have to be sent home.

Hari Sud ji, how do you privatise a government department? I can understand if its a PSU, but a government department? And what makes you think that a bureaucratic character makes the DRDO irredeemable? Its obvious that scientists cannot make good managers. The weakness of DRDO stems from the direct disregard of this fact. Every problem can be solved. What is needed is the will power. Imagine an alternate reality where we are denied the access to foreign military hardware we currently enjoy. Don't you think our Armed Forces would have pressurized the government to set the DRDO right in such a situation?

A super heavy throwweight Indian missile isn't a fanboy rumor! It's real and it's possibly Surya.
View attachment 22686

This could be for ISRO's new SSLV (Small Sat Launch Vehicle)
Or could it be a Agni-III MBRL as an answer to Nasr.
On a more serious note: This has to be a massive missile. Agni-V weighs 50 tons. Hence, this ~120 ton missile has to be Surya ICBM. It cannot be Agni-VI. It has to be a >10,000 km ICBM given the weight. Right?

 

[Hari Sud]

Hari Sud ji, how do you privatise a government department? I can understand if its a PSU, but a government department? And what makes you think that a bureaucratic character makes the DRDO irredeemable? Its obvious that scientists cannot make good managers. The weakness of DRDO stems from the direct disregard of this fact. Every problem can be solved. What is needed is the will power. Imagine an alternate reality where we are denied the access to foreign military hardware we currently enjoy. Don't you think our Armed Forces would have pressurized the government to set the DRDO right in such a situation?


This could be for ISRO's new SSLV (Small Sat Launch Vehicle)
Or could it be a Agni-III MBRL as an answer to Nasr.
On a more serious note: This has to be a massive missile. Agni-V weighs 50 tons. Hence, this ~120 ton missile has to be Surya ICBM. It cannot be Agni-VI. It has to be a >10,000 km ICBM given the weight. Right?

DRDO is an independent government organization, it can be privatized in one block. Or it could be sold as piece by piece. Issues like how to do it is for lawyers to work out.

Except for a few inefficient employees, others will welcome the move. They will learn project management and responsibility better.

 

[Tanmay]

DRDO is an independent government organization, it can be privatized in one block. Or it could be sold as piece by piece. Issues like how to do it is for lawyers to work out.

Except for a few inefficient employees, others will welcome the move. They will learn project management and responsibility better.

Well the DRDO has been divesting itself by involving companies like Vem, L&T, BharatForge etC. Even NPOL is doing a good job in Sonar.
R&D is going well.
Where things require a change is actually the manufacturing and production side i.e. OFB. more privatisation can be done on that side. If you go to the websites you can see the what sort of materials have been delisted to be produced by MSME "razais", ropes, bench vice and all that stuff
People are just too stuck on the socialistic DPSP that govt should provide jobs so it should not shut down OFB

 

[Adioz]

DRDO is an independent government organization, it can be privatized in one block. Or it could be sold as piece by piece. Issues like how to do it is for lawyers to work out.

Except for a few inefficient employees, others will welcome the move. They will learn project management and responsibility better.

Lean project management can be introduced in government entities as well. In fact, we need to do this, and not just in DRDO. The need for bureaucratic reforms should be evident to anyone in India. We cannot privatize the government now, can we? DRDO needs to be something along the lines of DARPA. It should be focused on technology creation for weapons, not platform creation. The private sector should then use this technology to develop products for the military. And the military should coordinate these activities and interactions. You cannot expect the DRDO to perform with the scientists handling the management.

Problem is, our private sector behemoths have not shown any stomach for serious research, except perhaps TATA.

 

[AnantS]

This could be for ISRO's new SSLV (Small Sat Launch Vehicle)
Or could it be a Agni-III MBRL as an answer to Nasr.
On a more serious note: This has to be a massive missile. Agni-V weighs 50 tons. Hence, this ~120 ton missile has to be Surya ICBM. It cannot be Agni-VI. It has to be a >10,000 km ICBM given the weight. Right?

Q:
What would be the approx weight of TEL mechanism ? I guess since the missile when erected for launch, is pushing weight at one end of trailer which could be say of x ton, the other end of truck needs to have equal or more weight(x+) , for the truck to not to loose balance. So overall load capacity of carrying truck needs to be 2x approx. By that logic the new missile could be approx +- 70 t. is it Agni VI with ad on stage ? or MIRVed version of Agni VI.

 

[Adioz]

Q:
What would be the approx weight of TEL mechanism ? I guess since the missile when erected for launch, is pushing weight at one end of trailer which could be say of x ton, the other end of truck needs to have equal or more weight(x+) , for the truck to not to loose balance. So overall load capacity of carrying truck needs to be 2x approx. By that logic the new missile could be approx +- 70 t. is it Agni VI with ad on stage ? or MIRVed version of Agni VI.

Oh yeah. Good point. It would depend on the acceleration of the missile.
If its equal to acceleration due to gravity, the chassis would have to handle 2X the weight if the missile. Meaning the missile would weigh 60 tons.
If acceleration of missile is 2X acceleration due to gravity, the chassis would have to handle 3X missile weight => weight of missile will be 40 tons.

BTW, I remember vaguely reading that the weight of Agni V had been reduced to 33 tons. I might be wrong though. Can someone confirm?

 

[Prashant12]

L&T SIGNS FIRST DRDO-TDF PROJECT FOR 'DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT WEIGHT BULLET PROOF MATERIALS'

This is the first Army-Industry-Academia Partnership for Development of Light Weight Bullet Proof Materials by L&T and Amrita University

Indian Army’s very first Technology Development Fund (TDF) project has taken off the ground for Development of Light Weight Bullet Proof Materials for Indian soldiers on the Frontline.
Defence industrial major- L&T and its academia partner Amrita University were awarded the TDF certificate on Thursday by Raksha Mantri Nirmala Sitharaman in Chennai.
Mr Jayant D Patil, who is the Director on board of L&T and Head of Defence and Aerospace business recieved this TDF certificate from Ms Sitharaman.

L&T and Amrita have entered into an Agreement with DRDO acting through the Director Futuristic Technology Management & Technology Development Fund for grant of a technology development project titled Development of Light Weight Bullet Proof Materials.

L&T will be the Development Agency in collaboration with Amrita University as the technology development partner.

“We at L&T and Amrita University are hopeful of developing a game changing light weight body armour for the Indian soldier as a force multiplier for the brave men guarding our borders,” said Jayant D Patil, Director on Board and Head Defence and Aerospace L&T.

Dr Shantanu Bhowmik, the innovator of this technology at Amrita University said, “ We are very happy to have received the first TDF project. Along with L&T, we shall now set up 10 equipments to develop the composite panels for the light weight bullet proof jackets for Indian Army within two years.”
This first TDF project gives shape to the vision of the former Deputy Chief of Army Lt Gen Subrata Saha and current Army Leadership to create a User-Industry-Academia ecosystem for developing cutting edge technologies that enable the Nation to Fight Indian Wars with Indian Solutions.

This TDF project is the result of an Army – Industry – Academia interaction conducted by Gen Subrata Saha in August 2016. It was in this trilateral interaction where the technology initiative of Dr Bhowmik at Amrita university advanced technology research centre was spotted.

As part of the extensive outreach program, Army had conducted 19 bilateral and 13 trilateral interactions, equipment displays, field visits leading to release of two volumes of Compendium of Problem Statements.

This Project, aims targeted development of an high performance thermoplastic polymeric composite with high energy absorbing characteristics so as to provide necessary bullet proof resistance to save lives of our soldiers facing enemy fire.

The technology targets use of Indigenously developed thermoplastic resins with carbon fibre fabric and processes for optimising the solution.
The product material so developed will be tested and validated before realising a light weight prototype vest within 24 months.
The proposed material configuration is unique and revolutionary compared to the current technology in use for the same application which uses hard ceramics and thermosetting resin based composites.
The proposed configuration proposes to provide a new methodology and unique solution for light weight bullet proof material for the required threat level and freeing our soldiers to carry useful payloads to fight more effectively.

The TDF grant will be used to set up a pilot scale facility at Amrita University for processing these materials, supporting research at Amrita University for developing the configuration, realisation and testing of panels and delivery of a prototype vest from the facility.

L&T’s new composites manufacturing unit being setup at Coimbatore in addition to the existing facility at Vadodara, and our in-house R&D will support this development effort and subsequent scale up.

http://www.indiandefensenews.in/2018/01/l-signs-first-drdo-tdf-project-for.html

 

[NeXoft007]

This could be for ISRO's new SSLV (Small Sat Launch Vehicle)
Or could it be a Agni-III MBRL as an answer to Nasr.
On a more serious note: This has to be a massive missile. Agni-V weighs 50 tons. Hence, this ~120 ton missile has to be Surya ICBM. It cannot be Agni-VI. It has to be a >10,000 km ICBM given the weight. Right?

Actually, this info is atleast 12 years old. What I think 140 ton here is GVWR rating. GVRW is the max permitted weight of the chassis. If we take empty weight of the TEL to be 45-50 tons. The missile atop could be 70-80 tons. While the rest of the weight is taken up by fuel, onboard APU etc. Agni VI would weigh 54 tons.

 

[Adioz]

Actually, this info is atleast 12 years old. What I think 140 ton here is GVRW rating. If we take empty weight of the TEL to be 50 tons. The missile atop could be 70-80 tons. While the rest of the weight is taken up by fuel, onboard APU etc. Agni VI would weigh 54 tons.

So the 120 140 tons is gross weight of the vehicle and missile? Well, I thought it was the load it was supposed to take. Which is why I calculated the force on vehicle's suspension during missile launch.
If it is 12 years old, then this cannot be an indication to a new road-mobile ICBM. This most likely is already in use. Maybe its the Agni V TEL?
BTW, this is the first time I've heard about Agni VI's weight. If it is indeed 54 tons. Then does that mean they were able to reduce the weight of Agni V form 50 tons? What is its new weight?
Also, is Agni VI = K5 SLBM? I mean is it smaller than 12 m in height in order to fit on a SSBN?

 

[NeXoft007]

So the 120 140 tons is gross weight of the vehicle and missile? Well, I thought it was the load it was supposed to take. Which is why I calculated the force on vehicle's suspension during missile launch.
If it is 12 years old, then this cannot be an indication to a new road-mobile ICBM. This most likely is already in use. Maybe its the Agni V TEL?
BTW, this is the first time I've heard about Agni VI's weight. If it is indeed 54 tons. Then does that mean they were able to reduce the weight of Agni V form 50 tons? What is its new weight?
Also, is Agni VI = K5 SLBM? I mean is it smaller than 12 m in height in order to fit on a SSBN?

Agni V was never 50 tons. Its weight is somewhere near 25 tons. Agni 3's weight is already 22 tons.

 

[Adioz]

Agni V was never 50 tons. Its weight is somewhere near 25 tons. Agni 3's weight is already 22 tons.

Agni V used to be 50 tons. Maybe they have reduced the weight now. Now, considering that Agni VI is 54 tons, it would mean that is is capable of much more than just the 6000 km range advertised. Maybe when they test it, they would remove its top most stage and test it as a missile with heavy throw weight and range of 6000 km whereas in actuality, the range of the missile is ~10,000 km with the upper stage in place?


Interview with Avinash Chander, Chief Controller, Missiles and Strategic Systems, DRDO.

How did you achieve this quantum jump in range – from Agni-III's 3,000 km to Agni-V's 5,000 km?

We went through various steps. One was that we had to make the upper stages lighter. That was the first and most critical factor. We decided to make both the second and third upper stages of composites. That gave us a major benefit in terms of weight. In Agni-III, both the first and second stages were metallic.

Having made the composite stages, we found that they were coming out better than the metallic stages, strength-wise and property-wise. So we could operate at a higher pressure. So you do not have losses due to gravity, and the losses are reduced. We then went through a total philosophy change. Up to Agni-III, we ignite the upper stage first, then separate the lower stage so that there is no problem of separation.

We decided to leave behind that culture of space vehicles. We now put big retro motors, which create a thrust of four tonnes each – totally 16 tonnes of thrust – just to separate the stages so that no dead weight is passed on to the upper stage.

Correspondingly, we decided to make the mission stronger so that there are no interfaces and the separation is clean. We studied and created extensive models to simulate them on the ground in all types of disturbed conditions in wind tunnels. With all that, we could remove the inter-stages altogether. The weight we had reduced by making the upper stages of composites was fed back into the third upper stage. The weight did not increase overall, but the total energy increased considerably. To reach the 3,000-km range, you need a velocity of five kilometres per second. To reach the 5,000-km range, the velocity has to be more than six kilometres a second.

That was our approach to the repackaging of our vehicle. We made major modifications in the upper stage. V.G. Sekaran, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory [ASL], DRDO, played a primary role in showing us how to repackage the payload structures so that the weight comes down by 1,000 kg.

How did the payload structures lose weight?

The payload structures had become much lighter; the weight was almost 60 per cent less than what it was earlier. It was a very elaborate exercise. We went to all the stages to see how to lose weight, how to repackage, how to reduce length, what technologies are needed for these, what was the modelling needed, and so on. That was how we could pack practically the same weight – from Agni-III, 48 tonnes in weight and 17 metres in length, to Agni-V, 50 tonnes in weight and 17.5 metres in length, but from a range of 3,000 km to more than 5,000 km. We wanted to make sure that all these capabilities were first proven in Agni-IV. We removed the open inter-stage. We had a closed inter-stage. We had composite motors. We had a compact payload. Of course, there is a vast difference between Agni-IV and Agni-V payloads. But the basic system was the same. But Agni-V had much more visibility and we wanted to make sure that all the elements of Agni-V were good. Agni-IV as a system did its job.

 

[Adioz]

Double post. So I'll throw in a pic:-

^^^^^^^^^^^ If Agni VI has a range of 10,000 km :santa:


So, if Surya ICBM is ever made, it will have a range of 14,500 km? Nice. A name that cool should be reserved for a missile that dope.

 

[lcafanboy]

Agni V was never 50 tons. Its weight is somewhere near 25 tons. Agni 3's weight is already 22 tons.

When Agni-3 first debut it weighed over 50 tonnes over the years DRDO managed to bring down the weight of Agni-3 to 22 tons.............

Earlier Agni-3 missiles used steel and older inefficient propellant which made it bulky and weighed over 50 tonnes. But technological breakthrough done on Agni-4 which for the first time was made out of carbon composites and new age c-20 propellant was transferred to Agni-3 too which brought its weight down............ One interesting thing is Agni-4 weighs only 17 tons whereas Agni-3 is 22 tons but Agni-4 has range of more than 4000 kms while Agni-3 3500 kms how come? or is it something more than what we can see?

Some say Agni-3 itself is capable of hitting over 10,000 kms.............

 

[NeXoft007]

When Agni-3 first debut it weighed over 50 tonnes over the years DRDO managed to bring down the weight of Agni-3 to 22 tons.............

Earlier Agni-3 missiles used steel and older inefficient propellant which made it bulky and weighed over 50 tonnes. But technological breakthrough done on Agni-4 which for the first time was made out of carbon composites and new age c-20 propellant was transferred to Agni-3 too which brought its weight down............ One interesting thing is Agni-4 weighs only 17 tons whereas Agni-3 is 22 tons but Agni-4 has range of more than 4000 kms while Agni-3 3500 kms how come? or is it something more than what we can see?

Some say Agni-3 itself is capable of hitting over 10,000 kms.............

That's because Agni III have 2 ton payload over 1 ton payload of Agni IV. But with 2 ton payload, Agni 3 can only reach 3,500km away.