DRDO, PSU and Private Defence Sector News

[kstriya]

View attachment 62647

ALH coast guard version

what are the options to improve the endurance time of ALH ? Like conformal tanks in fighter aircraft’s...

 

[porky_kicker]

what are the options to improve the endurance time of ALH ? Like conformal tanks in fighter aircraft’s...

Fuel tanks in exchange of payload like passengers .

As for conformal tanks , designers will know best .

 

[porky_kicker]

@Karthi

I am not doubting you ,

I though maybe you have the source or link with you

 

[porky_kicker]

@Chinmoy

RHE warhead is reduced or restricted high energy warhead

My guess maybe it is to slow down the velocity of the fragments / tungsten balls inorder to ensure tighter grouping and more time to hit more targets . Use against human clusters .

 

[Karthi]

@Karthi

I am not doubting you ,

I though maybe you have the source or link with you

There were some now I lost it .

 

[Dessert Storm]

View attachment 62647

ALH coast guard version

Amiet R. Kashyap
@Amitraaz

 

[Chinmoy]

@Chinmoy

RHE warhead is reduced or restricted high energy warhead

My guess maybe it is to slow down the velocity of the fragments / tungsten balls inorder to ensure tighter grouping and more time to hit more targets . Use against human clusters .

Yeah. Its confusing in itself.

 

[Apollyon]

.... , i left India not becoz i like to go aboard, it is because of reservation system adopted in Junior research fellow ship positions and superiority complex mentality in our education system, ......

There is no reservation in JRF positions available at IIT's afaik.

Scientific and Research Staff

www.iitk.ac.in

 

[Suryavanshi]

Reverse engineering lol

Let's take a very very simple example - a bolt ( as in a nut and bolt )

It is easy to reverse engineer ( copy ) the shaping / structure of the bolt.

Let's assume the bolt is made of an exotic alloy which is a secret.

Now how will one reverse engineer ( determine ) the composition of the alloy of which the bolt is made of ?

Let's again assume one managed to reverse engineer ( determine ) the composition of the alloy.

Now how will you reverse engineer ( determine ) the production process involved in the production of the alloy of which the bolt us made of ?

Now imagine reverse engineering a complex system such as a missile which is a system of systems requiring expertise in hundreds of specialised domains.

Reverse engineering a complex system always results in a sub optimal product. The effort , time , money involved in reverse engineering a complex products is multiple times more than that of developing a complex system on own via original R&D and even than such reverse engineered complex products will always be sub optimal ( inferior ). Anybody remember Chinese Gulzar lol

And now for some entertainment

As for reverse engineering Russian and Israeli systems by DRDO , are the Russians and Israeli companies fools who will let go of their revenue and breach of their IPR without taking recourse to legal action. Oh add to that India is a party to international IPR protection.

Forget reverse engineering , when DRDO installed own Arjun turret on T72 , the Russians forced DRDO to drop the project lol .

And why India ( DRDO ) is the only country with which Russia shares ToT ( for what's its worth ) for its defence products because it knows DRDO does not do illegal reverse engineering. Which Russia doesn't do with even their best buddies china , why ?

And why India ( DRDO ) is the preferred country ( other than US ) with which Israel enters into JVs and ToT because because it knows DRDO does not do illegal reverse engineering.

So much for DRDO reverse engineering Russian and Israeli products.

Frankly speaking DRDO doesn't have the capability or the resources required to do reverse engineering of a complex system. As I said before it's a fool errand to try to reverse engineer complex weapon systems.

This absolutely this.
I don't know where all the disrespect for DRDO is coming from all of a sudden.

They research on everything from water bottle to Ballistic missile on meager Budget of 2 billion.
While DRDO does have the typical problems of a government organisation but this is none of their fault.
As I see DRDO is the father figure of all Indian MIC. They willingly transfer TOT for complex system to private sector which they would have spend millions on developing it themselves. DRDO is essentially giving a headstart boost to private sector.

You dont disrespect your father no matter how succesfull u become, your success is attribute of his hard work as well.

I am very hopeful for the future of private sector, like that sivalik grenade I hoep they are able to absorb the tech and make their own R&D base with it.

Baap baap hota he.
Isme koi Competition ki bat nahi he dono ek his khoon he.

 

[fire starter]

very nice article plz go through it.

 

[Cheran]

@IFENetwork24
·6m

#Nirbhay has been flight-tested earlier and has successfully completed all its development trials. We only wanted to increase indigenous content in it. After that some snag had come, we are looking into it: #DRDO Chief on flight test of Nirbhay sub-sonic cruise Missile on Oct 12

 

[Dessert Storm]

What input, do you know ?

if possible do you have the source for it .

Nearest I could get. It just says similar to.

India develops weapon-locating radar,Security Issues, News Analysis, India News Online

Security Issues, India develops weapon-locating radar, News Analysis, India News Online

web.archive.org

 

[porky_kicker]

Hal is working on proving segmented blade technology on ALH , already proven on LUH . This will allow folding of all blades ( currently 3 blades foldable and 1 is not ) within 7 minutes . Tail folding already implemented.

HAL says will need 2 years to prove it on ALH

There is a video posted by me some pages back from HAL watch it for more details.

If Navy wants foreign helicopters via private companies than its their call, after all they are the end user.

I made a mistake , it seems all 4 blades can be folded back , now all that is requires is to replace the 4 blades with segmented blades for a better compact folding.

Segmented blade folding supposedly for ALH , link https://kaypius.com/2020/05/28/hal-offers-new-solution-for-naval-alh-blade-folding/

 

[Dessert Storm]

WLR is totally Indian radar , it is the modified Rajendra radar

Interesting story on the modification of Rajendra to Swati:
The new radar is based on the Rajendra-phased radar system that is already deployed in the Indian armed forces after engineers accidentally noticed during an anti-missile Akash missile test, that the Rajendra system could detect and tract artillery shells. This finding spurred the DRDO to develop an indigenous WLR.

BEL Weapon Locating Radars @ whatisindia.com Thursday, December 14, 2006 19:14:15 IST

www.whatisindia.com

*An artillery test was being conducted nearby.

 

[fire starter]

 

[Okabe Rintarou]

Now strategic one recent ASAT test

“As far as IR seekers is [sic] concerned,” he said, “the FPA [technology] which was denied to us [due to MTCR] is now not denied… We are not producing FPAs in the country… we are buying those FPAs and the rest of the optics and everything is being done in the country. That is why the possibility of NAG IIR seeker being manufactured in the country [exists] today. But we still have to go a long way… we need many more seekers, we need… LWIR and MWIR [seekers]…”

As sources within DRDO and ISRO conjecture, the likely scenario is that these off-the-shelf Sofradir seekers, in combination with the active radar seeker which DRDO makes, may have been used in the ASAT test. Alternatively, under the ambit of I2MC, an entire off-the-shelf MCT-based seeker may have been supplied by IAI. Of course, given that the test was conducted in the morning (11 am), a simple optical imager coupled with radar seeker could have also been used for homing.

These Seeker are Offs elves Used in Arrow Missile defense

First, lets get the Bullshit out of the way:​

Your Tribune article here: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/comment/decoding-the-anti-satellite-weapon-test-751313
is complete bullshit. The journalist's entire aim is to prove that UPA did not refuse DRDO an ASAT test. See this line he wrote in that article:-

These events beg the question: How could a full-fledged ASAT project proposal have been made to then UPA government in 2012 for it to decline sanction when the DRDO did not have the technology for IR seekers?

To prove this, he spins the narrative that DRDO did not have the seeker technology for the tests back in 2012. So let me now deconstruct how the entire narrative is built on half truths and utter lies:-
The use of terms like "unnamed sources", "apparently", "seems to have", "maybe", "possibly" is always used by journalists to peddle absolute lies and imaginations. Read all the red parts of the article I am quoting below:-

Apparently, following a preliminary meeting piloted by Saraswat at the Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad, in which former President APJ Abdul Kalam was also present, a projection of around Rs 8,000 crore was made. The DRDO was then told that it should focus its efforts on moving from Agni-3 to Agni-5 rather than embarking on an altogether new and complex project especially when it did not have the essential seeker technology.
Apparently, Sofradir, while willing to sell, was not even prepared to give FPA units for testing, let alone sharing the technology.
But nothing tangible seems to have resulted in terms of technology acquisition from Israel or France, especially on the MCT front, since then, either during Saraswat’s tenure or during those of his successors till February 2017 at least. According to DRDO sources, apparently towards the end of Saraswat’s immediate successor Avinash Chander’s term in 2015, a move was made to acquire a 1kx1k FPA, not of MCT but indium-antominide sensors, from SCD. And this was pursued by Chander’s successor Satheesh Reddy as well, but the idea was apparently finally dropped. Around the same time, off-the-shelf entire MCT-based seekers with 320x256 array — not FPAs alone that you integrate domestically with other elements — were apparently bought from Sofradir for Helina, the helicopter-version of the anti-tank missile NAG (similar units have been purchased by ISRO also for its hyperspectral imagers). These events beg the question: How could a full-fledged ASAT project proposal have been made to then UPA government in 2012 for it to decline sanction when the DRDO did not have the technology for IR seekers?

Apparently, all the claims this journalist makes are resting on ZERO proof and 100 imagination.

Now let us talk about the way he twisted the words of Dr. Saraswat.
Disclaimer in advance: I could not find video of this conference anywhere, I looked specifically in the Manohar Parrikar IDSA YouTube channel, where the journalist says this conference took place. Yet I will operate under the assumption that the journalist is not lying through his teeth. The first of Dr. Saraswat's statements taken out of context are:-

"As far as IR seekers is [sic] concerned,” he said, “the FPA [technology] which was denied to us [due to MTCR] is now not denied… We are not producing FPAs in the country… we are buying those FPAs and the rest of the optics and everything is being done in the country. That is why the possibility of NAG IIR seeker being manufactured in the country [exists] today. But we still have to go a long way... we need many more seekers, we need… LWIR and MWIR [seekers]...”

This statement was taken out of context, as we will later see, Dr. Saraswat is talking about getting a part of the seeker. Its not as if the entire FPA technology is not available in India, rather its the required resolution that is unaviailable. Proof at the end of this section. Continuing.......

“The fact remains that, even today,” he said answering a question from the audience, “the capability to make FPAs for thermal imaging and also for IR seekers… despite a lot of attempts by our country [is not there]… Like most of the cases when the country wants to venture into very highly complex technologies, you need to invest a huge amount… We had spent not even 10 per cent and as a result MCT, which is the basic element needed for making the FPA, could not be developed… [w]hen in 1995-96 there was a proposal after there was a little relaxation of MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime), Sofradir of France was ready to give the FPA technology… Rs 95 crore at that time, the government was not willing to spend... Today it may be Rs 1,000 crore…

Note how the journalist added the term "is not there". It could just as easily be replaced by the term "is deficient" or "is not complete yet". That changes the whole meaning of what Dr. Saraswat is trying to convey.

• In context, it was supposed to mean that MCT of required resolution could not be developed.
• Out of context, it would have meant MCT could not be developed AT ALL.
• With the addition of the term "is not there", journalist makes it sound as if the technology to develop the entire FPA is not there in India.

See how they concoct lies?
Dr. Saraswat is saying that MCT could not be developed. And next he explains why MCT could not be developed:-

In 2006, when I was chief controller [of R&D], we realised that with the kind of infrastructure and knowledge that we had even within the DRDO and academic institutions and others, we do not make MCT of that purity which is needed as the raw material for this… not even a gram of that material is available to us.”

The problem is the purity of MCT that is developed. The wafers are what need to be imported. Proof follows:-

Now let me give you actual proof of existence of FPA technology designed by DRDO and the fact that wafer purity is the prime concern for which import is required: Kindly refer to this paper from 2009: Mercury Cadmium Telluride Infrared detector development in India: Status and issues .
DOI: 10.1117/12.821349
Sections from the paper are quoted below

In India, the development of HgCdTe infrared detector has been intimately linked to the development of two major programmes in the early eighties— i) Development of thermal sight with night fighting capability for the armoured vehicles and ii) Development of Target Acquisition System and IIR seeker for third generation fire-and-forget top-attack missile. It was unfortunately the most difficult time for India because of the ban of supply of missile related items by advanced countries under missile technology control regime (MTCR) and India was denied all sorts of IR detectors, materials, processing and characterization equipments etc. so much so that even related literature was not easily available. Under such circumstances, development programmes for MCT detectors was a challenge to us.
Initially, three types of detectors were planned: i) 60 element (PC) linear array, ii) 100 element (PV) linear array and iii) a short 2D array IR FPA for IIR guidance. Typical specifications worked out for thermal sights are given in tables 1 and 2
During the last two decades, 60-element (PC) linear arrays have been designed, fabricated and tested successfully. Since 100 element linear MCT (PV) arrays were an offshoot of 2D FPA program, they are not discussed here separately. However,they have also reached to a respectable stage. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to give an account of our effort in the development of LWIR MCT detectors and its related technologies. Present status, issues and some suggestion for future work has also been highlighted.

Tables 1 and 2 could not be reproduced here, but the relevant parameter i.e. pitch ranges in around:-
101 microns to 70 microns with pixel sizes as small as 35X35 microns. You can refer to the paper for more detailed info.

This paper also mentions the fact Dr. Saraswat alluded to, that the problem is the quality of home grown wafers. Here is another set of excerpts from the paper that talks about this:-

However, it may be mentioned that 100 × 100 PV FPAs have been realized with LPE layers initially grown on imported wafers. Devices made from these wafers have shown good response to long wave IR radiation. However, they lacked in uniformity of response. This lack of uniformity of response could be attributed to inherent defects in the epilayers. The CCD mux may also contribute to nonuniformity and is therefore to be replaced by a Si CMOS switch-based readout instead of a CCD.

After initial success in the fabrication of 2D MCT FPAs, larger format FPAs could be under taken for both IR bands in due course. Right now, our pixel sizes are unreasonably larger, an attempt will be made to bring them down to <20 μm.

Our sister concern dealing with the ROIC has not yet reached a satisfactory level due to an unexpected mishap in the factory. Fabrication of robust low-temperature devices meeting international norms is still anticipated. Once good quality ROICs are in hand, no problem is visualized in integrating indium bumps, hybridization, and packaging the FPAs suitably. However, as of today the major issues being faced are:
a) Growth of MCT epilayers with desired device grade specification and surface morphologies
b) Uniformity of fabricated PV arrays .
c) Design and fabrication of the ROIC to the international level
d) High yield in integration of the detector, ROIC, and DDCA

Thus research from 2009 to 2019 focused on creating Si CMOS based Read-Out Integrated Circuit. This would likely have recieved a boost when ISRO's lab SCL shifted from creating indigenous 800 nm node to 180 nm node (which was indeed brought in from Israel, no doubt about it). Hence I suspect (am almost sure) that the ROIC is taken care of in this previous decade.

Before 2016, DRDO already had an IIR seeker with a 128X128 FPA which was used in Nag. After that they adopted the new seeker with 640X512 FPA, which finally allowed Nag to pass trials. To achieve this, I suspect they had to resort to imports. Which means 128X128 FPA is Indian technology. But what was imported?

Then, in 2017, Dr. Saraswat says that "MCT of required resoultion could not be developed". So problem (a) in the quote above still persists. If we could import just that MCT raw material i.e. a wafer of high enough quality, DRDO could develop an Indigenous 640X512 FPA.

But Dr. Saraswat also says that "As far as IR seekers is [sic] concerned,” he said, “the FPA [technology] which was denied to us [due to MTCR] is now not denied… We are not producing FPAs in the country… we are buying those FPAs and the rest of the optics and everything is being done in the country. That is why the possibility of NAG IIR seeker being manufactured in the country [exists] today. But we still have to go a long way... we need many more seekers, we need… LWIR and MWIR [seekers]...”

Therefore I conclude that the FPA having to be imported is a fact. Why? Most likely because we can't make the MCT wafer yet and because no other country will sell us the wafer, when they can sell us the entire FPA itself. But what does this garbage Tribune article want us to believe? That India does not have the technology to make FPA AT ALL. See how dangerous this is?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Now Let me start with your most valid arguments and then move towards the least valid ones:-

No My problem Is With Monopoly Of DRDO in R&D Project

Start A Tender Process Let DRDO compete With Private Firms

You Will get your answers

Give Private 100 % control On Technology they develop

DRDO is not stopping them. If GoI policy was stopping them, it was not DRDO's fault. But what about now? Neither DRDO nor GoI policy is stopping these big Indian conglomerates from doing anything. So why are they not opening big R&D centers to focus on core R&D? Answer me this. You have been dancing around this question for long enough. Show me the bloody proof. Go look at their DefExpo exhibits. They are rebranding foreign maal as their own. Case in point: Kalyani vehicles.
And then you ask "HOW IS AUTOMOBILE SECTOR RELATED?"
I already told you how its related, but I'll repeat in simpler language: GoI policy did not stop Indian Automobile manufacturers like TATA and Mahindra (who are also the big conglomerates trying to get into Defence Sector) from turning India into a global hub of automobile R&D. Yet these same companies failed to do it. Did DRDO stop them from making these things? These companies relied on foreign technology for automobiles, but somehow if DRDO is shut down, these companies will suddenly start producing Agni Missiles? These conglomerates have only now started very basic innovation. I would not even call it innovation, its more of a design problem than a research problem. Let them do something at DRDO's level before you shout about them competing with DRDO. Frankly, I don't see what particular rule is stopping these companies from competing with DRDO today. Tonbo Imaging is doing it. Why can't the big conglomerates do it? Stopy lying, there is no procedural hurdle.

Akash is buk
Basic Tanks KE shells are all IAI products

Swordfish is basically Elta greenpine
most of DRDO Radar are Modification Of IAI ones

Where is the proof? I gave you proper proof of exactly how much of FPA technology is indigenous. Kindly return the favour, or else don't make baseless claims.

It Will Provide them Management &Y Staff And Ecosystems Of Well Stablished Global supply chain

Does TATA lack management expertise? No. Global supply chain? That is your idea? To use tier 2 suppliers of Embraer to create Indian planes? And you classify that as Indian technology? Tell me, is India also going to buy all the universities in Brazil who supported Embraer in R&D? If not, who is going to fill that void? Indian universities might not be working on similar focus areas as Brazilian ones.

Rest Is All Socialist excuses Less technical arguments

Uptill 1992 All Was controlled by Govt Monopsonic firms And Private didn't Have access

You don't have answers to individual factual arguments made by me so you resort to this lazy excuse? That I am ranting pro-socialism? Did you not see me diss PSU and OFB more than Private companies?

Seeing your Rants Is Not Much Different Less technical arguments More Rants
And Personal attacks Next

Rest Is All Socialist excuses Less technical arguments

Uptill 1992 All Was controlled by Govt Monopsonic firms And Private didn't Have access

Personals Senile remark Just To Make yourself look Cool And Using Word Hera Cary & Unnecessary rants But less Factual Arguments

Well Do you have Problem With my Job ??? aur its making u uncomfortable

Timoshenko medal
how many did Russians and Chinese got ??? from American Society of Mechanical Engineers

This is getting hilarious

Kya Mazaak hai Kuch bhi Word Hera cary Pel Do phir Bolo mere Pass PHD hai

1.) If you try to put your false pride aside and try to read what I am telling you objectively, you'll see how phoney your arguments really are. But you don't want to do that.
2.) Your DRDO hatred will get you nowhere. Most of what you accuse the DRDO of is something the GoI did not do or PSU did not do or OFB did not do or Indian Innovation System did not do. Most of your pointless rants have nothing to do with DRDO.
3.) I gave you the hint to go watch what the Indians who achieved Timoshenko medal had to do in order to do it. It was an example to give you an idea about how difficult R&D is. But you can't see past your false pride, can you? Fine, stick your head in the sand. Obviously a person who has not conducted any research is his life is the most qualified person to comment on this matter.
4.) I would have been fine if you did not have qualification but if your arguments made sense. Problem is, your arguments are flawed and stubborn. Hence I pull out my qualification card to counter your stubbornness. FYI, I am not even an electronics engineer. Yet I was able to figure out the curve-ball you threw me in about an hour. Which goes to show that more than qualification, what is required is an open, non-biased mind. Your biases are what blinds you.

 

[Okabe Rintarou]

@Okabe Rintarou do you think building competing school or design bureaus for tanks, missiles planes etc like russians, Chinese or western countries do will help ?.

If I could micromanage R&D in India (no human possibly can), instead of using my limited amount of high quality R&D manpower (man-talent) in duplication by creation of competing design bureaus, I would much rather use that mantalent to address more avenues of core Research. There are so many fields where we lack, we require a lot of man-talent to solve those problems, but our man-talent is limited. Using them for duplication in order to generate competition and result in better products should be a secondary goal. If your subsystems are not developed on home-grown technology, there will always be an upperlimit to the level of weapon systems you can create, even if you create duplicate competing weapons design companies.

There are better ways to generate healthy competition. Incentivizing good Research directly. Separating technology administration and core Research verticals. There will be better ways if we think about it.

 

[fire starter]

Regarding FPA we are developing QDIP detector which are primary competitor to MCT detectors.

View attachment 62680

Here is a isro programme regarding MCT detector.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335057267_Uncooled_Mid-wave_Infrared_Focal_Plane_Array_Using_Band_Gap_Engineered_Mercury_Cadmium_Telluride_Quantum_Dot_Coated_Silicon_ROIC

 

[shade]

Most of DRDOs and other defense PSUs issues can be solved with generous budgets on-par with other Great Powers and the stick applied wherever necessary, i.e when results aren't being delivered, the responsible employees should get pay cuts, demotions or the boot depending on the severity of the failure over a course of years.

Sorry for one-two line reply.

 

[fire starter]

First, lets get the Bullshit out of the way:​

Your Tribune article here: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/comment/decoding-the-anti-satellite-weapon-test-751313
is complete bullshit. The journalist's entire aim is to prove that UPA did not refuse DRDO an ASAT test. See this line he wrote in that article:-

To prove this, he spins the narrative that DRDO did not have the seeker technology for the tests back in 2012. So let me now deconstruct how the entire narrative is built on half truths and utter lies:-
The use of terms like "unnamed sources", "apparently", "seems to have", "maybe", "possibly" is always used by journalists to peddle absolute lies and imaginations. Read all the red parts of the article I am quoting below:-

Apparently, all the claims this journalist makes are resting on ZERO proof and 100 imagination.

Now let us talk about the way he twisted the words of Dr. Saraswat.
Disclaimer in advance: I could not find video of this conference anywhere, I looked specifically in the Manohar Parrikar IDSA YouTube channel, where the journalist says this conference took place. Yet I will operate under the assumption that the journalist is not lying through his teeth. The first of Dr. Saraswat's statements taken out of context are:-

This statement was taken out of context, as we will later see, Dr. Saraswat is talking about getting a part of the seeker. Its not as if the entire FPA technology is not available in India, rather its the required resolution that is unaviailable. Proof at the end of this section. Continuing.......

Note how the journalist added the term "is not there". It could just as easily be replaced by the term "is deficient" or "is not complete yet". That changes the whole meaning of what Dr. Saraswat is trying to convey.

• In context, it was supposed to mean that MCT of required resolution could not be developed.
• Out of context, it would have meant MCT could not be developed AT ALL.
• With the addition of the term "is not there", journalist makes it sound as if the technology to develop the entire FPA is not there in India.

See how they concoct lies?
Dr. Saraswat is saying that MCT could not be developed. And next he explains why MCT could not be developed:-

The problem is the purity of MCT that is developed. The wafers are what need to be imported. Proof follows:-

Now let me give you actual proof of existence of FPA technology designed by DRDO and the fact that wafer purity is the prime concern for which import is required: Kindly refer to this paper from 2009: Mercury Cadmium Telluride Infrared detector development in India: Status and issues .
DOI: 10.1117/12.821349
Sections from the paper are quoted below

Tables 1 and 2 could not be reproduced here, but the relevant parameter i.e. pitch ranges in around:-
101 microns to 70 microns with pixel sizes as small as 35X35 microns. You can refer to the paper for more detailed info.

This paper also mentions the fact Dr. Saraswat alluded to, that the problem is the quality of home grown wafers. Here is another set of excerpts from the paper that talks about this:-



Thus research from 2009 to 2019 focused on creating Si CMOS based Read-Out Integrated Circuit. This would likely have recieved a boost when ISRO's lab SCL shifted from creating indigenous 800 nm node to 180 nm node (which was indeed brought in from Israel, no doubt about it). Hence I suspect (am almost sure) that the ROIC is taken care of in this previous decade.

Before 2016, DRDO already had an IIR seeker with a 128X128 FPA which was used in Nag. After that they adopted the new seeker with 640X512 FPA, which finally allowed Nag to pass trials. To achieve this, I suspect they had to resort to imports. Which means 128X128 FPA is Indian technology. But what was imported?

Then, in 2017, Dr. Saraswat says that "MCT of required resoultion could not be developed". So problem (a) in the quote above still persists. If we could import just that MCT raw material i.e. a wafer of high enough quality, DRDO could develop an Indigenous 640X512 FPA.

But Dr. Saraswat also says that "As far as IR seekers is [sic] concerned,” he said, “the FPA [technology] which was denied to us [due to MTCR] is now not denied… We are not producing FPAs in the country… we are buying those FPAs and the rest of the optics and everything is being done in the country. That is why the possibility of NAG IIR seeker being manufactured in the country [exists] today. But we still have to go a long way... we need many more seekers, we need… LWIR and MWIR [seekers]...”

Therefore I conclude that the FPA having to be imported is a fact. Why? Most likely because we can't make the MCT wafer yet and because no other country will sell us the wafer, when they can sell us the entire FPA itself. But what does this garbage Tribune article want us to believe? That India does not have the technology to make FPA AT ALL. See how dangerous this is?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Now Let me start with your most valid arguments and then move towards the least valid ones:-

DRDO is not stopping them. If GoI policy was stopping them, it was not DRDO's fault. But what about now? Neither DRDO nor GoI policy is stopping these big Indian conglomerates from doing anything. So why are they not opening big R&D centers to focus on core R&D? Answer me this. You have been dancing around this question for long enough. Show me the bloody proof. Go look at their DefExpo exhibits. They are rebranding foreign maal as their own. Case in point: Kalyani vehicles.
And then you ask "HOW IS AUTOMOBILE SECTOR RELATED?"
I already told you how its related, but I'll repeat in simpler language: GoI policy did not stop Indian Automobile manufacturers like TATA and Mahindra (who are also the big conglomerates trying to get into Defence Sector) from turning India into a global hub of automobile R&D. Yet these same companies failed to do it. Did DRDO stop them from making these things? These companies relied on foreign technology for automobiles, but somehow if DRDO is shut down, these companies will suddenly start producing Agni Missiles? These conglomerates have only now started very basic innovation. I would not even call it innovation, its more of a design problem than a research problem. Let them do something at DRDO's level before you shout about them competing with DRDO. Frankly, I don't see what particular rule is stopping these companies from competing with DRDO today. Tonbo Imaging is doing it. Why can't the big conglomerates do it? Stopy lying, there is no procedural hurdle.


Where is the proof? I gave you proper proof of exactly how much of FPA technology is indigenous. Kindly return the favour, or else don't make baseless claims.


Does TATA lack management expertise? No. Global supply chain? That is your idea? To use tier 2 suppliers of Embraer to create Indian planes? And you classify that as Indian technology? Tell me, is India also going to buy all the universities in Brazil who supported Embraer in R&D? If not, who is going to fill that void? Indian universities might not be working on similar focus areas as Brazilian ones.



You don't have answers to individual factual arguments made by me so you resort to this lazy excuse? That I am ranting pro-socialism? Did you not see me diss PSU and OFB more than Private companies?



1.) If you try to put your false pride aside and try to read what I am telling you objectively, you'll see how phoney your arguments really are. But you don't want to do that.
2.) Your DRDO hatred will get you nowhere. Most of what you accuse the DRDO of is something the GoI did not do or PSU did not do or OFB did not do or Indian Innovation System did not do. Most of your pointless rants have nothing to do with DRDO.
3.) I gave you the hint to go watch what the Indians who achieved Timoshenko medal had to do in order to do it. It was an example to give you an idea about how difficult R&D is. But you can't see past your false pride, can you? Fine, stick your head in the sand. Obviously a person who has not conducted any research is his life is the most qualified person to comment on this matter.
4.) I would have been fine if you did not have qualification but if your arguments made sense. Problem is, your arguments are flawed and stubborn. Hence I pull out my qualification card to counter your stubbornness. FYI, I am not even an electronics engineer. Yet I was able to figure out the curve-ball you threw me in about an hour. Which goes to show that more than qualification, what is required is an open, non-biased mind. Your biases are what blinds you.

Just to prove that UPA did not refused an ASAT test this journalist went on a rant full of lies and fake claims.