DRDO, PSU and Private Defence Sector News

[RPK]

The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle developed by the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute seen at the Idukki reservoir in Kerala in this file picture. Photo: CMERI

 

[sayareakd]

how about making a bigger size version with K4 inside ???

 

[Parthy]

India to set up R&D center for Warship : National Institute for Research and Development in Defence Shipbuilding

AK Antony, Union Defence Minister will lay the foundation Stone of National Institute for Research and Development in Defence Shipbuilding (NIRDESH) at Chaliyam, near Beypore in Kozhikode Kerala on 4th January. The National Institute is being set up on the directions of the Union Defence Minister with the intention of promoting self reliance in production capabilities relating to all kinds of warships, submarines and other related platforms required by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard to safeguard and protect maritime interests of India.The Institute will also give a further fillip to the indigenisation efforts of the Indian Navy which is already the Standard -Bearer among all the three services as far as indigenization efforts are concerned.

While the country has successfully constructed warships and submarines in India, Research and Development in various disciplines of warship construction like Detail designing, System integration, skill development, industry support, knowledge mining and a plethora of other aspects leading to "drawing board to delivery" of ships on our own, needs to have a sharper focus. The objective of NIRDESH is to promote R&D relating to Warship and Submarine design, and to provide impetus in developing composite and complete indigenous capability to meet future demands of ships and submarines by the Indian maritime security agencies. The Institute also intends to act as the knowledge and data bank repository on special system designs and also offer consultancy to shipyards in various competencies.

NIRDESH will be an autonomous body under Department of Defence Production and funded by Ministry of Defence. The institute will also receive funds from the four Defence Shipyards. The board of Governors will have the Union Defence Minister as the President. The other members of the Board include senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, and Chairmen of Defence Shipyards. The Kerala State Government has contributed to this national project by assigning land at Beypore near the site where Vasco-Da-Gama first landed in India in 1498. The region also has a historic tradition of shipbuilding in Indo-Asian region. Elamaram Kareem, Minister for Industries, Kerala would preside over the foundation stone laying ceremony.

Indian Navy has its own warship design wing. It is manned by Naval personnel. NIRDESH will cater primarily to Indian defence forces and will have participation from shipyards, Navy, Coast guard etc.


http://frontierindia.net/india-to-set-up-rd-center-for-warship-national-institute-for-research-and-development-in-defence-shipbuilding

 

[RPK]

DRDO to set up research and innovation centre

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1032595.ece

T. Ramakrishnan
Share · print · T+ The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has decided to set up a research and innovation centre in the Research Park of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras, V.K. Saraswat, DRDO Director General and Defence Research and Development Department Secretary, said on Tuesday.

After delivering a talk on the second day of the 98th Indian Science Congress at Kattankulathur, near here, Dr Saraswat told reporters that the proposed centre would focus on materials manufacturing, aerospace, software development and nano materials.

Pointing out that there would be a "free flow" of scientists, academicians and students in this project, he said "my scientists will work in IIT as adjunct professors. Similarly, IIT professors and students will work as scientists in my center."

The DRDO recently signed a contract with the IIT to implement the research and innovation centre project. It had taken one floor of the Research Park building, measuring nearly 30,000 sq. ft. In eight months, the proposed centre was expected to be ready.

He admitted that in the past, some collaborative research projects in the past went for a toss as they were dependent on particular faculties which were available for specific periods. To correct this, the DRDO wanted to ensure that the projects had continuity. "Through collaborative efforts, we are binding the institution. The binding force is not at the level of one faculty but with respect to the entire community of academicians including students."

Indicating the DRDO's plans to launch a commercial arm, Dr. Saraswat said through a Rs.20-crore programme involving the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the DRDO had transferred to more than 15 industrial units defence technologies for civilian purposes. The industrial units belonged to the public and private sectors.

He denied a suggestion that there had been delay in setting up the commercial arm. As the mechanism had only existed to meet the requirements of the armed forces through the Department of Defence Production, the commercial arm was not originally envisaged. "Over a period of time, there are new users coming up. For instance, para-military forces are looking for equipment which are required to be customized from what we have delivered for the armed forces," he said, adding that there were civilian spin-offs of those technologies developed for the armed forces.

To a question on the expected amount of revenue to be generated initially, the DRDO chief replied that according to his expectation, Rs. 60 crore to Rs. 70 crore could be earned annually. However, he emphasised that the success lay on the DRDO's ability to market its products in a market "which is going to be globally competitive."

 

[nitesh]

worth full read:
http://tarmak007.blogspot.com/search/label/Agni Sakshi Series on Tarmak007

And, if you thought DRDO's missile scientists are no good, then please make a visit to Wheeler Island. To see, the tough lives of Indian missile scientists. Despite meager salaries, name-sake perks and highly-politicized-complicating-top-heavy-set-up, they work with tones of passion holding the pride of their nation closer to heart. If only, we had a strong political class that recognized their worth; if only we had some more inspiring leaders within DRDO to lift their spirits and if only we had a Media willing to do away with table-top Journalism, may be, we can do some justice to these Jewels of India.

 

[Anshu Attri]

A JEWEL ON INDIA'S CROWN

 

[Anshu Attri]

Pranav Mistry at TED; The Sixth Sense - part 1

 

[shuvo@y2k10]

Small satellites can be armed to protect space assets: Scientist
Chennai, Jan 6, (IANS):

A constellation of small satellites -- each weighing 30-60 kg -- can be armed to protect the country's space assets in the future though at present the orbiting Indian satellites are unprotected against any enemy missile attacks, a senior defence scientist said Thursday.


"Currently the satellites are not protected. The only way to counter an enemy attack on our satellites is shooting down his satellites," Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) Advanced Systems Laboratory director Avinash Chander told IANS.

Here to participate at the 98th Indian Science Congress held at SRM University in Kattankulathur, Chander also said India was likely to test its inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) by the end of this year while efforts to build missiles with multiple warheads were also on.

To a query whether satellites could be armed to protect themselves against attacking missiles, Chander said: "There are possibilities of sending small satellites weighing 30-60 kg with warheads that can be activated from ground in case of any enemy attacks",

However, he added that India does not have the policy of weaponising its satellites. China has demonstrated its capability to shoot satellites with a missile by shooting down its own dysfunctional satellite twice.

According to Chander, the constellation of small satellites can also be used as back-up for India's communication satellites. On India's missile programmes, Chander said the agency is working on missiles with multiple warheads that can strike at multiple targets and steps to reduce the weight of the missile with the use of composites.

According to him, the year end would see the test-firing of advanced version of Agni missile - the ICBM Agni V.

"Agni V has strike range of 5,000 km and is built with high composite content to reduce its weight. The first stage is made of composites while the missile's second and third stages have a large content of composites," Chander said.

He said at 49 tonnes, Agni V weighs around one tonne more than Agni III but its range has gone up far more. The Agni III missile's range is around 3,500 km.

On the issue of joining hands with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and draw out a common component sourcing strategy to bring down the hardware cost, Chander said: "It is true there are common technologies between rockets and missiles. But in the case of a missile, it has to re-enter the atmosphere to strike whereas it is not so with the ISRO rockets. Further component specifications would also change."

 

[Pintu]

New Defence Procurement Policy released, please check the link:

http://mod.nic.in/dpm/welcome.html

Regards


PS: Got the link from Live Fist

 

[shuvo@y2k10]

india needs to come up an elite r&d autonomous institution on aerospace products ranging from transport aircrafts,fighter aircrafts,uav,bomber,helicopter,jet engine,uav like nirdesh.

 

[shuvo@y2k10]

Carbon - World's smallest UAV i.e unmanned aerial vehicle

Claimed to be the world's smallest and lightest, Carbon, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by a private firm can be used for anti-terrorist and counter insurgency operations besides disaster management and aerial photography.

It flies using four high-speed propellers (quadrotor) that allow vertical take-off and landing and built-in intelligence in the controller system makes the UAV to return to the starting point on its own.

"The quadrotor is a highly complex system compared to fixed wing, and it is one of the best in the world," says Hemendra Arya, Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay.

"The device has been manufactured using carbon fiber composites, and hence the name. Carbon's intuitive point and click graphical user interface requires minimal user assistance," said 26-year-old Ashish Bhat, one of the founders of Mumbai-based ideaForge Technology
, which developed it.

The Carbon weighs just 1.5 kilograms and has a range of one km. With externally swappable Li-Pc batteries, it can fly up to 30 minutes per battery charge.

On-board stabilisation is achieved by a smart intelligent auto-pilot controller receiving inputs from a GPS, gyro, magnetometers, accelerometers, and altitude sensors, he said.

Bhat's UAV has won a prize for the Best Autonomous Hovering Vehicle from among 16 international teams in the first US-Asian Demonstration and Assessment of Micro Aerial and Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India self-sufficient in electronic warfare: DRDO chief

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=14135

CHENNAI: These days wars are not about brute force but about disabling your enemy before moving in for the kill. And today, electronic warfare has emerged as the preferred weapon of choice.

According to V K Saraswat, Director of R&D at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India is now self sufficient in electronic warfare. "Electronic warfare is very important in current context and our country has done extremely well," said Saraswat.

Strategic electronics powers many of the defence domains and operating at very high frequencies which are not accessible to all. "Our strength lies in the design and the vast knowledge pool we have. But we are weak in the manufacture of quality components, have limited R&D participation from industry and there is poor translation from prototype of the idea to production," said Y S Mayya, CMD of Electronic Corporation of India Ltd.

I V Sharma, Director of R&D at Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), said Rs 7,000 crore was spend on strategic electronics R&D in 2009.

"AKASH missile project was termed as a great example of government-public-private partnership. Institutions such as ECIL, IITs and IISc were part of the AKASH project," said Sharma.

"The critical issues in strategic electronics are the denial of technology and transfer of only manufacturing know-how in deals, not technology know-how. Also R&D is mainly being done by DRDO and few PSUs and efforts of private sector are very limited," added Sharma.

Read more: India self-sufficient in electronic warfare: DRDO chief - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...O-chief/articleshow/7238564.cms#ixzz1AY0i9VKO

 

[dineshchaturvedi]

We should find ways and means to provide monitory benefits to our scientist. All scientist associated with key project should be given rewards in crorers.

 

[pavanvenkatesh]

its funny in our country a cricketer and an actor gets paid crores for endorsements easily and our scientist who struggle every day to help the nation gets soo poorly paid no wonder we have a serious shortage of scientist as no scientist gets paid enough

 

[RPK]

India to produce Titanium Sponge

http://www.businessghana.com/portal/news/index.php?op=getNews&news_cat_id=1&id=140517
News Date: 10th January 2011


India's first Titanium Sponge Plant (TSP), which will enlist the country among the few world nations having the technology to produce titanium sponge, is all set for operation in Kollam district in south Indian state Kerala.

A trial run of the Rs 143 crore-plant would be held during the first week of February and a formal inauguration would be done by February 15 at Chavara near here, government sources said.

At present, only six countries in the world- the United State, Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan- have the technology to produce titanium sponge, a raw material for the strategic metal titanium.

The Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), a unit of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had indigenously developed the technology for India.

According to the figures of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India requires 350 tons of titanium sponge for the manufacturing of aircrafts spacecrafts. Other industries including biomedical and ship building also require another 400 tons of titanium sponge.

Though the material has been imported largely now, the state-agencies including ISRO are not sure about the quality of the product. It had forced the country to develop the technology its own and setting up a plant for its production, sources said.

The new facility will have the capacity to produce 500 tons of titanium sponge annually in the initial stage. The capacity will be increased to 1,000 tons in the near future, they said.

As part of the venture, a Tickle Purification Plant (TPP), a unit to purify titanium tetrachloride, was opened at the TSP campus two days back.

At present, KMML is the only producer of titanium tetrachloride, a critical raw material for titanium sponge, in the country.


Source: GNA

 

[RPK]

Airborne Early Warning Aircraft ready for roll out by next year

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/128046/airborne-early-warning-aircraft-ready.html

Bangalore, Jan 10 (PTI)

The country's Airborne Early Warning Combat Aircraft will be ready for roll out in January next year with flight trials starting by this year-end, Defence Minister A K Antony said here today.


He stated this after handing over the Initial Operational Clearance certificate for India's Light Combat Aircraft Tejas to Air chief Marshal P V Naik at HAL airport here.The Centre for Air-Borne Systems (CABS), DRDO, Bangalore, is developing the Air-borne Early Warning and Control system which would be integrated into the Brazilian-manufactured Embraer-145 aircraft, officials said.

The system, designed to detect and distinguish hostile aircraft, would help in enhancing the surveillance and strike capability of the IAF. It can be used to direct fsighters and strike aircraft to their targets and warn them of hostile enemy aircraft in the area from miles away.
The system would provide the Indian Air Force with the capability to track missile and network with ground stations.

It comprises many sub-systems like radar and communication links that are being designed and developed by DRDO. This is a multi-laboratory programme of DRDO coordinated by CABS, Bangalore.The EMB-145 aircraft is being modified to carry DRDOs Active Array Antenna Unit (AAAU), mounted on top of the aircrafts fuselage, officials said.

 

[sandeepdg]

its funny in our country a cricketer and an actor gets paid crores for endorsements easily and our scientist who struggle every day to help the nation gets soo poorly paid no wonder we have a serious shortage of scientist as no scientist gets paid enough

Thats the reason, mate, that even after 63 years of independence, we are still sourcing every nut and bolt of defense hardware from abroad, when we all know that the will and capability exists right here at home !! Such a pathetic strategic foresight our leaders have !

 

[RPK]

http://tarmak007.blogspot.com/2011/01/tejas-production-method-in-hal-needs-to.html

India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is finally making progress with many homegrown projects. Often on the receiving end of time and cost overruns, DRDO has been kept on its toes by the Indian media, audit agencies, experts and the armed forces. Amidst all the brickbats and occasional bouquets, DRDO held firm, and slowly the products started gaining acceptance by India's armed forces. India's industries also came of age and showed increasing confidence in partnering with DRDO. At the helm of DRDO's affairs is India's leading missile scientist, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, who is also the scientific advisor to India's defense minister. "I am for international collaboration and don't believe in 100% indigenous development, which is not possible in the current scenario. I don't believe in reinventing the wheel. Development has to be collaborative," Saraswat tells Anantha Krishnan M., Aviation Week's Senior Aerospace and Defense Correspondent (India), in a one-on-one interview for the India Thought Leaders (ITL) series. (Below is the gist of the interview.)
On DRDO's bumpy ride: The last 20% completion phase of various projects needed more time and extra focus than what the initial 80% took and needed extra focus. This was the period, maybe for close to two decades until around 2005, [when] we found that the output was very fluctuating. This became a major sore point as the country and armed forces were concerned. The users thought we were not delivering. Hence, we decided to channelize all our energies toward the critical 20% of the phase in the last two years.
On LCA production: My assessment is that there should be much more effort from the production agencies to take the Tejas program forward. What is required for the production of Tejas, a lean manufacturing process should be in place. We must have good supply chain lines, good contractors (tier I, II) and state-of-the-art tooling systems. We should have excellent methods of contracting, monitoring, evaluating and integrating every work. While we have some of these in patches, HAL needs to consolidate all this into a great process. An efficient production method is yet to be put in place by HAL as far as LCA is concerned.
On the missile front: The focus of DRDO in the next five years will be to build a subsonic cruise missile for multi-platforms. The work has already begun. Now we are focussing on major building blocks for the missile, which means engines. We will begin work on loitering missiles. We are looking at launching multiple sub munitions from a low-cost rocket or a missile, which can be guided against each target.
New areas: The most neglected area is gun development, and we have already started work in this area. We want to develop even the engine in India for FMBT and have launched a national program involving private industries, academic institutions and DRDO.
On international collaboration: I am for collaborations. The whole idea is to accelerate our pace of development and avoid reinventing the wheel. I personally don't believe in the 100% indigenous philosophy, which is the most impractical one. Today, if anyone wants complete homegrown products in critical areas, it is because of the lack of [understanding] of the dynamics of the market and a lack of understanding of what is global competitiveness.
On DRDO revamp: We are making good progress. We are implementing 20 to 30% of the Rama Rao Committee recommendations on DRDO's makeover. The complete decision-taking process has been decentralized. Delivery will be the watchword for DRDO's progress.

 

[black eagle]

India's Big Defence Leap

By Nitin Gokhale

The Indian Defence industry has posted a significant milestone.

On January 10, the Indian Air Force formally granted initial operational clearance to the country's first indigenously manufactured light combat aircraft, marking the culmination of nearly two decades of work by Indian defence scientists and technicians. Named the Tejas, the plane will initially form one squadron (20 aircraft) in the IAF.

The Tejas was designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under the defence ministry-controlled Defence Research and Development Organisation. The project was conceived and launched in 1983, with an expected budget of Rs 560 crore (about $5.6 billion), but test flights weren't launched until 2001.

The project, which has its fair share of critics in India—and even within the Indian Air Force—has seen numerous ups and downs during the course of its long journey to service. But 10 years after the initial test flights, the fourth-generation plus aircraft has finally arrived.

Admittedly, there are still some doubts over the fact that the LCA'sengine, radar, some navigation technologies and some of its displays are imported. But officials at the ADA asserted ahead of the launch that the design, development, testing, certification and mastery of the system engineering are completely Indian.

'There are just six to eight countries in the world that can design, develop, test and certify a fighter aircraft—India is now one among them,' ADAdirector P S Subramanyam told the media in Bangalore, a southern Indian city considered a technology hub both for private and government-owned agencies in India.

Fully aware of the criticism over imported engines and radar, Subramanyam already has a road map in place for future development of the Tejas. Over the next five years, he says, the Tejas will be completely indigenous and the higher variant will be ready by 2014. Even without any further refinement, the current batch of Tejas aircraft is comparable with Sweden's Gripen, the Chinese-Pakistan J-17 Thunder and the South Korean T-50 jets.

'The LCA is as good if not better than these aircraft,' Subramanyam told the media.

If all goes well, over the next decade, both the manufacturers and the Indian Air Force are planning to increase that number to 200 aircraft, if not more. But even without these kinds of numbers, India's defence ministry will be celebrating the induction of the LCA Tejas as a major turning point in its effort to indigenise the country's defence production sector.

Together with significant progress in locally manufacturing the Main Battle Tank 'Arjun,' for use by the Indian Army, India will also likely be happy with its fully-indigenous missile development programme, which has made huge strides by producing ballistic and cruise missiles with varied range and strike capabilities.

These developments are in keeping with India's conscious decision to encourage indigenous capabilities in defence technologies and production. A recently released document by the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), a tri-service think thank under the defence ministry, clearly highlights the need for greater synergies between the Indian armed forces and Indian industry.

The 'Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap, 2010', which was prepared by IDS, outlines India's defence needs over the next 15 years and identifies the areas in which Indian industry will be able to contribute in developing and manufacturing the weapons and systems needed by the Indian armed forces.

The IDS states:

'This document intends to provide industry an overview of the direction in which the Armed Forces intend to head in terms of capability over the next 15 years which, in turn, would drive technology in the developmental process. It is based on the Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) of the Armed Forces. It will highlight the broad capabilities envisaged by the Armed Forces and the technology perspective to achieve these. Industry would be expected to interact with the MoD on a regular basis and offer firm commitments in partnering the MoD in developing contemporary and future technologies as well as productionalising equipment required by the Armed Forces. Effective participation based on mutual trust and cooperation would go a long way in achieving the desired degree of self reliance.'

It goes on to identify the induction of future technology and capabilities across the three services in the following areas:

Information Superiority

According to the IDS, the Indian armed forces will require Information Superiority to acquire near real-time awareness of the locations and activities of its own and enemy forces throughout the battle space.

To achieve that, the IDS says, requires a seamless, robust C4 network connecting all of its own forces to provide a common picture of the battle space that encompasses the capabilities of Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) and Command, Control, Communications and Computers (C4).

Electronic Warfare

Electronic warfare is used for deceiving, disrupting and destroying surveillance and command and control systems, as well as the weapons and sensors of an enemy's integrated air defence network. It should also include the capacity to detect similar attempts by the enemy and be able to initiate countermeasures to protect India's own systems through redundancy and hardening.

Area Missile Defence

Joint Area Missile Defence, which will use AD (Air Defence) assets of the three services in conjunction with the surveillance sensors of other agencies to detect track, acquire and destroy incoming theatre ballistic and cruise missiles.

In addition, the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack exposed India's inadequacies in combating highly-motivated and skilled terrorists operating in heavily-populated urban areas. With this in mind, the IDS feels there's further scope to enhance and hone the country's capacity to launch so-called 'Military Operations in Built-Up Areas (MOBUA).'

'The capability to undertake operations in built-up areas so as to achieve military objectives with minimum casualties and collateral damage includes appropriate precision weapons and non-lethal weapons, surveillance sensors, navigation means and communication systems that are effective in confined, built-up urban areas,' the document says.

Finally, the IDS document is focused on developing an effective ability to counter the threats posed by the nuclear, chemical and biological warfare capabilities in India's neighbourhood.

'There is thus a need to provide our forces with nuclear, chemical and biological warfare defence and protection. The requirement is to enhance joint war fighting capability so that our forces are capable of operating in an NBC environment both for offensive and defensive missions,' the document says.

The objective, according to a strategy expert involved in preparing the document, is to ensure that the efforts of the country's defence technology research and development are aimed at supporting future war fighting capabilities required by the armed forces.

He noted: 'It was felt that India's R&D Agencies, both public and private, would be able to work out a detailed plan to develop the required technologies, including the necessary funding and their research objectives in specific areas'.

Of course, all this is easier envisaged than implemented—development of defence equipment and cutting edge technologies with defence applications require considerable investment in terms of time, money and human resources.

'If Indian industry is to become a meaningful participant in the national endeavour of achieving self-reliance in defence equipment, it would be expected to make this investment. This, of course requires them to be aware of the capabilities the Armed Forces are seeking and the technologies required to achieve these over a reasonable period of time,' the document says.

It also notes that: 'induction of new weapon systems are cost and time intensive. Building complex platforms like ships, submarines, tanks and fighter jets has a long lead time which is constantly challenged by the race to keep pace with the relentless march of technology. It is therefore imperative that the long term requirement of capability be identified and understood for appropriate technology to be developed and operationalised in an acceptable time frame.'

Given India's history of tardy implementation of numerous public and private sector plans, it's no wonder the induction of the LCA Tejas is being celebrated as a major achievement for the country's defence sector. Whether this will spur more such efforts, of course, remains to be seen.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=14161

 

[nitesh]

http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/pub/nl/2010/december2010.pdf
dec new letters