DRDO, PSU and Private Defence Sector News

[plugwater]

Even if we have missiles to take out satellites, How are we going to track a satellite ?

 

[p2prada]

Even if we have missiles to take out satellites, How are we going to track a satellite ?

We do have the capability to do that. However it will mean some modifications in software in some of our existing radars.

It will take time to implement this unless we have been working at it since China' first ASAT test.

This was repeated in another thread. But mid course interception is the surest way to counter the ASAT threat.

No lasers and stuff involved. All of this is post 2025.

 

[plugwater]

We do have the capability to do that. However it will mean some modifications in software in some of our existing radars.

It will take time to implement this unless we have been working at it since China' first ASAT test.

Thanks p2p.

Dump questions to ask, Should we need to point our radars towards sky to track them ?

Even if we do that, the area covered by our radars are very less and we should be lucky to have the path of a satellite in that area?

And how do we find out the satellites we are tracking belongs to which country ?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/drdo-us-working30-high-tech-projects/424941/



DRDO, US working on 30 high-tech projects


Nine Indian entities now out of US ban list.

The chief of India's Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) today made the startling revelation that his organisation is in partnership with US entities in developing at least 30 high-technology defence projects.

Addressing a press conference at the Aero India 2011 air show in Bangalore today, DRDO Chief V K Saraswat broadly described the areas of the joint DRDO-US research. He said they were jointly developing "about 30 programmes related to materials, services, and manufacturing technologies. There are some related to advanced communications systems. There are many (projects) that are related to low-intensity conflict."

This indicates Washington's rapid relaxation of the stringent technology denial controls that the US Congress had placed on DRDO after India tested five nuclear weapons in May 2008. Until January 25, several DRDO laboratories had featured on Washington's "Entity List", a list of agencies and institutions that are banned from receiving dual-use items from the US. A dual use item is one that has military, as well as civil, uses.

Controversially, Saraswat also revealed DRDO was permitting American inspectors to examine equipment that was being imported from the US for use in DRDO projects. "We already have some agreements with them"¦ what is called post-delivery inspection. Suppose they give some equipment, they can verify"¦ they are at liberty to come and check whether we have used this equipment in the place that I have indicated in my order. It is something like the End User Monitoring Agreement."

DRDO has worked for years with Russian and Israeli defence companies in developing weaponry, but featuring on the "Entity List" had ruled out cooperation with the US. The US departments of state and commerce, which must grant licences for defence-related export and cooperation, automatically block licenses to any agency on the "Entity List". Key DRDO platforms, including the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft; the Akash missile; and the Arjun tank, suffered years of delay after the technology denial regime imposed by the US in 1998.

Saraswat said DRDO had long hankered for partnership with US companies. "A lot of technology areas were identified for working with the US, but because we were on the Entity List"¦ clearances were not coming. I presume that there will be acceleration in our research & development programmes with the US."

Despite the DRDO-US projects under way, Saraswat pointed out that DRDO's removal from the "Entity List" did not mean that automatic clearance was granted for whatever DRDO needed. US law mandates that all dual-use items, which essentially includes everything related to defence, needs export licences from the US departments of commerce, state and defence.

"That licensing process is the law (in the US) and it will not change. So we have to see in the years to come"¦ what kind of trust is going to develop between [the DRDO] and the US on the issue of licences for dual use items for the DRDO and other defence agencies. That process will become lenient only if there is a level of trust," Saraswat said.

Meanwhile, Washington has stressed on high-tech cooperation that was one of the highlights of President Barack Obama's visit to India last November. US Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, with his delegation of 24 US companies — among them a dozen aerospace and defence companies, including Lockheed Martin, Oshkosh Corporation, Boeing and Aero Controls — has dangled high technology as a carrot to induce New Delhi to provide trade incentives to US companies. Saraswat's revelations could ease scepticism among Indian defence policymakers about whether Washington intends to part with high technology to India, or to merely cite the sale of high-tech defence platforms like the C-130J as evidence of its commitment.

Speaking to Business Standard, US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro insisted that Washington viewed India as a strategic partner. "The removal of nine Indian entities from the Entities List was a significant accomplishment," declared Shapiro. "We've just had a successful delivery of the C-130J"¦ and we hope to win the MMRCA competition.

 

[black eagle]

DRDO gears up for battle against cyber warfare


Evolving conditions of threats have pushed the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to enable themselves in the area of cyber warfare. "We have evolved from border issues to economic issues to cyber warfare," said V K Saraswat, scientific adviser to the Defence Minister. But "old disputes continue to remain", he said. He said they would get robust technology and trusted platforms to make their networks 'invincible'."

We have to be more and vigilant on cyber security," he said. Speaking about the threats of space wars, he said India, as a country, does not have a policy or intent in space war and antisatellite activities.

Throwing more light on the issue, he said as part of the Ballistic Missile Defence Programme, they have "all the technology elements required to integrate a system to defend our own satellites or any requirements in the future". Speaking about the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), Saraswat said they have six laboratories working to develop new technologies on stealth, avionics and a major portion in test and evaluation. He shared that the Agni5 rocket motors have been developed in all of its stages, including the reentry vehicle. According to him, it would be ready for its first flight by the end of 2011.

Saraswath said different variants of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAV) were being developed for Low Intensity Conflict.


http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/drdo-gears-up-for-battle-against-cyber-warfare/247407.html

 

[black eagle]

Bigger, better aerostat in the offing

If you thought the white surveillance flight balloon at Aero India 2011 was huge, there's something bigger on the cards. The initial success of 'Akashdeep' has shown the way for a bigger and better indigenous 'Nakshatra'. This new aerostat system will be built to track a 450km radius -- that's approximately four times the present 110km radius surveillance track of Akashdeep!

The surveillance system to be developed by Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra, can be tested up to 4.5km altitude, with a payload capacity of 800kg to 1 tonne and 17,000 cubic metre volume. "The project is now on the drawing board stage. Once finalized, it will take us five years to complete the Nakshatra for service,"Wing Commander A Marwah, mission coordinator for Aerostat, said.

Elaborating plans for the medium-range Akashdeep, he said the technology is ready and has been successfully tested at Agra for a height of 1km with a 300kg payload capacity. "We have now achieved the technology. It's perfect for use along borders, coastal areas and in areas of low-intensity conflicts. US and Russia have also shown interest in exchanging technical know-how," Marwah added. There are also plans to modify the existing model before replicating it in other areas.

Akashdeep is now stationed for demonstration at the Yelahanka Air Force station for Aero India 2011. It's among the biggest flying objects here and took over five days to be transported from Agra. However, competition for air space at the show left it with very little time for any detailed operational demonstration to the crowd. Even on Saturday, there was only an hour's time between air displays for a technical demonstration. In the past four days, it has been demonstrated only up to a maximum height of 80m. Going higher will require more time.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-offing/articleshow/7491560.cms#ixzz1Du0D1Ua2

 

[Parthy]

Thanks p2p.

Dump questions to ask, Should we need to point our radars towards sky to track them ?

Even if we do that, the area covered by our radars are very less and we should be lucky to have the path of a satellite in that area?

And how do we find out the satellites we are tracking belongs to which country ?

Let me try my best to answer this question.. Each satellite has an unique identification number provided which is universally standardized.. And also the path of the satellite along the orbit is a determined one based on its plan like lower, medium & upper orbit.. and again it is classified as elliptical orbit or circular orbit based on its purpose...

It will not be a big deal to identify Chinese satellites and its planned trajectory path.. But the question is how they're going to integrate it with missile parameters?? Anybody please shed some light on this and also please correct me if my understanding is wrong!! meanwhile, I'll research on this...

Adding:

The International Designator, also known as COSPAR designation, and in the United States as NSSDC ID, is an international naming convention for satellites. It consists of the launch year, a 3-digit incrementing launch number of that year and up to a 3-letter code representing the sequential id of a piece in a launch.

For example, 1957-001A is Sputnik 1's launch vehicle and 1957-001B is the actual Sputnik 1 satellite. The number reveals that it was launched in 1957 and that it was the first launch made that year. Another example is 1990-037B, the Hubble Space Telescope, which was the 37th known successful launch world wide in 1990. 1990-037A is the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-31, which was to carry the Hubble telescope into space.

Launch failures are not given standard NSSDC IDs. They are instead cataloged with "arbitrary" designations, for example VAGSL1 for the satellite Vanguard SLV 1.

The designation system has been generally known as the COSPAR system, named for the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council for Science. This group subsumed the first designation system, devised at Harvard University in 1958. And that system used minuscule letters of the Greek alphabet to designate artificial satellites. For example, Sputnik 1 was designated 1957α. In 1963, the system was changed to use numerals instead, but its retroactive application for ease of computerized reference was not immediate. For example, the quarterly publication TRW Space Log of 1969 had satellites orbited before 1963 listed by Greek letters and those during and after by numerals.

The catalog is administered in the United States by the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), part of NASA. - wiki

 

[nitesh]

must watch

 

[shuvo@y2k10]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiAbJoEGR6g

 

[nitesh]

excellent write up, please read in full

http://flonnet.com/stories/20110311280509400.htm
SPECIAL FEATURE: DRDO

Technology giant

T.S. SUBRAMANIAN

With 52 laboratories spread across the country and staffed with 7,000 engineers and scientists, the DRDO is virtually an empire.

Out of the Rs.1,00,000-crore worth of systems put into production, Rs.600 crore worth of systems for NBC defence have been inducted into the Services. Both the public sector and private industries produce them.

The Defence Bioengineering and Electrochemical Laboratory (DEBEL) in Bangalore has developed a unique on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS). It can administer the required quantity of oxygen at varying altitudes to pilots of fighter aircraft on long missions and prevent them from losing consciousness owing to severe gravity (G) forces. The innovation here is that oxygen can be administered on demand. The OBOGS forms part of the integrated life support system (ILSS) for fighter aircraft pilots developed by a team of scientists at DEBEL led by Director, V.C. Padaki.

Since fighter aircraft can nowadays fly for an extended period because of the availability of mid-air refuelling facilities, the endurance of pilots has to concomitantly increase. If the aircraft were to carry several oxygen cylinders of the conventional type, the weight of the payload (missiles) would have to be reduced. In the ILSS, the nitrogen in air is removed, and the oxygen is concentrated, compressed and bottled in light-weight cylinders made of composites. The OBOGs keeps pilots' oxygen status at sea level even when they are flying at high altitudes.

The ILSS has a component called the Demand Oxygen Regulator (DOR), which will ensure that oxygen is delivered to pilots as per altitude requirements and during the anti-G straining manoeuvres that pilots undertake during combat missions. This will economise the use of oxygen. According to Padaki, the contraption has a novel electronics unit that will ensure proper functioning of the OBOGS at changing altitudes and activate a back-up system in case of failure.

 

[nitesh]

http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/pub/nl/2011/january.pdf
January news letter, lots of tidbits of information

from the above letter, page 3

Under the newly formed cluster of Micro-Electronics and Devices, the achievements include demonstration of the functioning of Gallium Nitride high-electron mobility transistor

Some thing related to this 3 years before:
http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/pub/techfocus/2008/oct08.pdf

page 7

Development of material and device technology of AlGaN/GaN-based HEMT has been started in DRDO for the next generation technology for high frequency, high temperature and high power operation. GaN transistors will meet many strategic needs of DRDO applications in transmitter-receiver modules needed for phased array radars, EW, jammers, data links, communication, missile seeker heads, power transistors, to name a few.

Comments please

 

[black eagle]

BARC Vizag unit in 5 years

VISAKHAPATNAM: The new unit of the Baba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Visakha district, which is three times bigger than the one at Trombay ( Mumbai), will become operational in five years.

Delivering the address at the Nucar-2011 (Nuclear and radiochemistry) meet here on Tuesay, Prof P Rama Rao, chairman of Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) in the department of automic energy, said the new BARC research centre in Visakhapatnam would be a suitable place to train the required manpower for the nuclear sector.

He stressed the importance of trained and efficient human resource for making the country's nuclear programmes successful. He said the universities must follow the practices of reputed universities like Harward University to meet the global standards.

BARC director Prof V Venugopal said initially a core group of scientists would function from the new unit at Vizag. He hoped the new centre would strengthen nuclear research activities.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/BARC-Vizag-unit-in-5-years/articleshow/7550538.cms

 

[black eagle]

 

[black eagle]

 

[black eagle]

 

[nitesh]

http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20110325280609400.htm
Stunning range of products

The ADE has developed the pilotless target aircraft (PTA) Lakshya, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Nishant and Rustom 1, laser-guidance kits for bombs, simulator and flight control computers for Tejas, Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs), flight control actuators, gas turbines, rotary engines, and so on.

The ADE conducted flight tests for the UAVs. "We will ultimately build Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles [UCAV]," said P.S. Krishnan, ADE Director.

Lakshya is one of the ADE's premier products. A tow-body that trails from it is used as a target by radar-guided surface-to-air, air-to-air and shoulder-launched missiles and by land- and ship-based anti-aircraft weapons. After the tow-body is hit, Lakshya's parachute opens and the aircraft touches the water noseAA down. It can be recovered and reused. All the three Services have inAducted Lakshya. Its success led to the development of Lakshya-2, which has a digital control system.

Rustom-1, a medium altitude, long endurance (MALE) UAV, was test-flown recently. Its cameras can gather high-quality imagery for about 15 hours at a stretch, flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet. It can carry a payload of 350 kg at an altitude of 35,000 feet and has an endurance of 36 hours. It will have a synthetic aperture radar and a C-band data link.

The ADE's a laser-guided kit helps the IAF drop bombs with greater precision – within 10 metres of their targets as against 500 m without the kit. G. Natarajan and G. Sivasankaran, both Associate Directors, ADE, are confident of achieving a precision of 3 m.

 

[nitesh]

http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20110325280610000.htm


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SPECIAL FEATURE: DRDO

Agni-V next

THE DRDO's missile programme, both tactical and strategic, is marching ahead. Agni-II, Agni-I, Agni-III and Prithvi and its variants such as Dhanush and Prithvi-II, all strategic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads, have been inducted into the Army. Agni-II's range is more than 2,500 km, Agni-I's more than 700 km and Agni-III's about 3,500 km. The maiden launch of Agni-V, which will have a range of 5,000 km, will be in September 2011.

The DRDO's interceptor missile missions, too, have been a great success. Astra, the air-to-air missile, is under advanced stage of development. K. Sekhar, Chief Controller R&D (Missiles and Low Intensity Conflict), DRDO, said, "If the flight tests [from the ground] are successful, carriage trials will take place. If these are successful, we will do hot tests with an actual missile firing from an aircraft." The DRDO has planned to develop two new versions of Astra: Astra Mark I will have a range of 40 km and Mark II 100 km.

 

[nitesh]

http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20110325280609800.htm


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SPECIAL FEATURE: DRDO

Robot soldiers!

B.M. Shivashankar, Additional Director, CAIR, says the laboratory is developing technologies for the "Futuristic Infantry Soldier as a System" (FINSAS). It has developed software that equips soldiers with C4I (command, control, communication and computers, and intelligence), which provides them with "a situational awareness picture". "It is a platform-independent software," said Shivashankar. The CAIR has developed the Battlefield Information System that collects and provides the force commander with battlefield information and a computer that soldiers can tie to their waist, with the keypad on the wrist. Its engineers have also come up with a desktop computer that weighs 750 grams.

The CAIR's software specialists have developed a "secure data adaptor" to protect wireless conversations between naval personnel. "We developed the device from scratch in just 11 months," said S. Raja, scientist.

The CAIR has developed Artillery Command, Control and Communication Systems to automate the Army's field artillery and Command, Information, Decision-Support Systems, which allow the Army to store, retrieve and filter tactical data.

A "robot sentry" walks in the CAIR's premises monitoring people and providing feedback to its creator, Sartaj Singh. The CAIR has built robots to inspect the highly radioactive areas of nuclear power reactors. "We are building autonomous robots that can use their own intelligence," K. Ramesh, Additional Director, said. One is a man-portable robot that can think on its own, negotiate curves, climb staircases and provide feedback. The second is one that can be transported in vehicles, can dodge obstacles and locate where IEDs are buried and pull them out. The third is the wall-climbing robot, which "can be used in low-intensity conflicts and anti-terrorist operations". The "snake robot" can slither through the rubble of buildings brought down by earthquakes, locate survivors and alert rescuers.

 

[nitesh]

http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20110325280609600.htm
SPECIAL FEATURE: DRDO

Tackling new threats

According to Sekhar, some of the major technologies that the DRDO is working on are through-wall imaging radar to look for people hiding in buildings and to detect concealed objects; ground-penetration radar to detect buried mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs); laser- and sensor-based eavesdropping devices; foliage-penetration radar, in collaboration with Defence R&D Organisation of Sweden, to detect movement of militants in jungles; laser-based explosives disposal; corner-shot weapons to fight engage adversaries from behind walls; and mini and micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with sensors for day and night surveillance.

The Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior, which Sekhar had earlier headed as its Director, has developed a few non-lethal devices, including an oleoresin-based smoke grenade. The smoke has a pungent odour and incapacitates the enemy or flushes them out of their hideouts.

The DRDO has also developed a grenade that is more powerful but less toxic than the conventional tear gas canister. A major problem that paramilitary forces face is detecting IEDs. They are buried at a depth of 2 metres and go undetected by ground-penetration radars. "We have generated a database with a simulated system for explosive devices and we can predict the depth at which the IED is located," Sekhar said.

 

[nitesh]

http://frontierindia.net/india-produces-40-per-cent-of-its-defence-supplies-defence-minister

Defence Minister AK Antony said that there has been a rise in indigenous production in defence platforms, equipment and ammunition. He said the government's first priority is to reduce dependence on foreign players in supply of these items.

"In the past, we were producing only 30 per cent of our equipment. Now we are producing 40 per cent of platforms, equipment and ammunition of our total defence supply"¦In many areas, India is producing state-of-the-art weapons. We are improving but we have to go a long way. Do not expect miracles," he told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.