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DRDO, PSU and Private Defence Sector News
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Indian-developed technology to boost range of missiles and protect re-entry vehicles
domain-b.com : Indian-developed technology to boost range of missiles and protect re-entry vehicles
Bangalore: Agni III, which is India's longest-range missile with a capability of striking targets 3,500 km away, may now have an extended range of around 5,000 km thanks to a unique solution discovered by Indian scientists at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here. The technology will increase the range of not just missiles but also other satellite launch vehicles.
The technology also has the exciting possibility of reducing the risk of occurrence of a Columbia space shuttle-type of tragic accident.
The enhanced range of an Indian re-entry vehicle or missile will now be due to a special-purpose coating of chromium metal applied to the blunt nose cone of missiles and launch vehicles, for which international patents have been sought for by the team of IISc scientists (See: Indigenous technology to increase range of Indian missiles by a third)
The prestigious IISc is celebrating its centenary this year.
''Objects such as missiles fly at hypersonic velocities which are more than five times the speed of sound and encounter atmospheric drag because of friction. The chromium coating works by adding temporary heat and pushing the stagnating gas away to create an easier path,'' G Jagadeesh, an assistant professor at the IISc here said.
The findings of the IISc team, which also includes Vinayak Kulkarni of IIT (Guwahati) and GM Hegde, E Arunan and KPJ Reddy, have been reported in the latest issue of the Physics of Fluids journal published by the American Institute of Physics.
Laboratory experiments have shown that atmospheric drag because of the coating fell by 47% and Jagadeesh said a ''conservative estimate'' was that this would result in range going up by at least 40%.
''The measurements show about 47% reduction in the drag coefficient for a 60° apex angle blunt cone in a Mach 8 flow of 3.4 MJ/kg specific enthalpy,'' reads an extract from the article in the journal.
Scientists say the breakthrough also has potential to avert disasters of the type that struck space shuttle Columbia in 2003, which resulted in the death of seven astronauts, including Indian-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla. The shuttle burned out as it was re-entering the earth's atmosphere as there were problems it's thermal protection system.
The special-purpose coating developed at the IISc could likely replace the tiles and panels which currently protect orbiters against extreme heat during re-entry into the atmosphere.
''The coating evaporates once the object has re-entered the atmosphere. This novel method is path-breaking because additional energy is not required to reduce drag; objects which travel into space need to carry a much lower fuel load,'' Jagadeesh said.
-----------------------
Any latest news on the above technology to boost the missile range?
domain-b.com : Indian-developed technology to boost range of missiles and protect re-entry vehicles
Bangalore: Agni III, which is India's longest-range missile with a capability of striking targets 3,500 km away, may now have an extended range of around 5,000 km thanks to a unique solution discovered by Indian scientists at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here. The technology will increase the range of not just missiles but also other satellite launch vehicles.
The technology also has the exciting possibility of reducing the risk of occurrence of a Columbia space shuttle-type of tragic accident.
The enhanced range of an Indian re-entry vehicle or missile will now be due to a special-purpose coating of chromium metal applied to the blunt nose cone of missiles and launch vehicles, for which international patents have been sought for by the team of IISc scientists (See: Indigenous technology to increase range of Indian missiles by a third)
The prestigious IISc is celebrating its centenary this year.
''Objects such as missiles fly at hypersonic velocities which are more than five times the speed of sound and encounter atmospheric drag because of friction. The chromium coating works by adding temporary heat and pushing the stagnating gas away to create an easier path,'' G Jagadeesh, an assistant professor at the IISc here said.
The findings of the IISc team, which also includes Vinayak Kulkarni of IIT (Guwahati) and GM Hegde, E Arunan and KPJ Reddy, have been reported in the latest issue of the Physics of Fluids journal published by the American Institute of Physics.
Laboratory experiments have shown that atmospheric drag because of the coating fell by 47% and Jagadeesh said a ''conservative estimate'' was that this would result in range going up by at least 40%.
''The measurements show about 47% reduction in the drag coefficient for a 60° apex angle blunt cone in a Mach 8 flow of 3.4 MJ/kg specific enthalpy,'' reads an extract from the article in the journal.
Scientists say the breakthrough also has potential to avert disasters of the type that struck space shuttle Columbia in 2003, which resulted in the death of seven astronauts, including Indian-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla. The shuttle burned out as it was re-entering the earth's atmosphere as there were problems it's thermal protection system.
The special-purpose coating developed at the IISc could likely replace the tiles and panels which currently protect orbiters against extreme heat during re-entry into the atmosphere.
''The coating evaporates once the object has re-entered the atmosphere. This novel method is path-breaking because additional energy is not required to reduce drag; objects which travel into space need to carry a much lower fuel load,'' Jagadeesh said.
-----------------------
Any latest news on the above technology to boost the missile range?
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Launch campaign apace for lift-off of PSLV–C14
BY : THE HINDU
The launch campaign at the spaceport at Sriharikota is accelerating for the lift-off of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C14), which will put seven satellites in orbit. The launch is most likely to take place on September 23.
While the 960-kg Oceansat-2 is from India, the remaining six, all from abroad, are micro satellites weighing between one and eight kg. They are four Cubesats and two Rubinsats.
‘Fully integrated’
“The four-stage vehicle is fully integrated. We are going through the tests. After the vehicle is fully checked out, we will take in the satellites [that is, the satellites will be married up with the rocket],” said a top Indian Space Research Organisation engineer associated with the mission. It will be a core-alone PSLV version that will inject the satellites into orbit. The sleek, chiselled-looking vehicle does not have the six strap-on motors that surround the first stage in the standard PSLV version.
The vehicle’s fourth stage will fire five satellites, one after another into orbit, akin to the “salvo of rockets issuing from a multi-barrel rocket launcher,” another ISRO engineer said. After Oceansat-2 is slotted into its orbit first, a spring-loaded action would “push the chota fellows out” one after another. The two Rubinsats would not be ejected. They would remain permanently attached to the vehicle’s fourth stage. “The Rubins will not be separated. They will do their work while they are attached to the PSLV’s fourth stage. There will be no problem in that,” he explained.
Oceansat-2 will continue to do the work done by Oceansat-1. It will investigate the interaction between oceans and the atmosphere to facilitate study of climate. It will study the wind above the oceans, and the sea surface temperature. The satellite will help in identifying schools of fish, predicting the state of the sea, keeping a tab on the phytoplankton blooms and studying suspended sediments in water.
S. Satish, Director, Publications and Publications, ISRO, said: “Oceans cover about 70 per cent of the earth’s surface. Considering the importance of oceans as a source of food for humans and their role in shaping the earth’s weather and climate, and their influence on the biological life cycle, study of oceans is cardinal. In this context, the Oceansat-2 mission acquires added significance.”
Study the colour of oceans
One of the payloads of Oceansat-2, called Ocean Colour Monitor, will study the colour of oceans. “This will help in effective fishing,” an ISRO scientist explained. Another payload, scatterometer, will investigate the interaction between the oceans and the atmosphere. In addition, there is a payload from the Italian Space Agency for studying the atmosphere.
The four Cubesats are from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, Technical University of Berlin and University of Wurzburg, both in Germany, and Istanbul Technical University. These Cubesats weigh one kg each. The two Rubinsats, weighing eight kg each, are from Luxembourg and Germany. All the six will test advanced satellite and application technologies.
ISRO created a record in April 2008 when another PSLV core-alone version billeted home 10 satellites including India’s Cartosat-2A.
Launch campaign apace for lift-off of PSLV?C14 IDRW.ORG
BY : THE HINDU
The launch campaign at the spaceport at Sriharikota is accelerating for the lift-off of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C14), which will put seven satellites in orbit. The launch is most likely to take place on September 23.
While the 960-kg Oceansat-2 is from India, the remaining six, all from abroad, are micro satellites weighing between one and eight kg. They are four Cubesats and two Rubinsats.
‘Fully integrated’
“The four-stage vehicle is fully integrated. We are going through the tests. After the vehicle is fully checked out, we will take in the satellites [that is, the satellites will be married up with the rocket],” said a top Indian Space Research Organisation engineer associated with the mission. It will be a core-alone PSLV version that will inject the satellites into orbit. The sleek, chiselled-looking vehicle does not have the six strap-on motors that surround the first stage in the standard PSLV version.
The vehicle’s fourth stage will fire five satellites, one after another into orbit, akin to the “salvo of rockets issuing from a multi-barrel rocket launcher,” another ISRO engineer said. After Oceansat-2 is slotted into its orbit first, a spring-loaded action would “push the chota fellows out” one after another. The two Rubinsats would not be ejected. They would remain permanently attached to the vehicle’s fourth stage. “The Rubins will not be separated. They will do their work while they are attached to the PSLV’s fourth stage. There will be no problem in that,” he explained.
Oceansat-2 will continue to do the work done by Oceansat-1. It will investigate the interaction between oceans and the atmosphere to facilitate study of climate. It will study the wind above the oceans, and the sea surface temperature. The satellite will help in identifying schools of fish, predicting the state of the sea, keeping a tab on the phytoplankton blooms and studying suspended sediments in water.
S. Satish, Director, Publications and Publications, ISRO, said: “Oceans cover about 70 per cent of the earth’s surface. Considering the importance of oceans as a source of food for humans and their role in shaping the earth’s weather and climate, and their influence on the biological life cycle, study of oceans is cardinal. In this context, the Oceansat-2 mission acquires added significance.”
Study the colour of oceans
One of the payloads of Oceansat-2, called Ocean Colour Monitor, will study the colour of oceans. “This will help in effective fishing,” an ISRO scientist explained. Another payload, scatterometer, will investigate the interaction between the oceans and the atmosphere. In addition, there is a payload from the Italian Space Agency for studying the atmosphere.
The four Cubesats are from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, Technical University of Berlin and University of Wurzburg, both in Germany, and Istanbul Technical University. These Cubesats weigh one kg each. The two Rubinsats, weighing eight kg each, are from Luxembourg and Germany. All the six will test advanced satellite and application technologies.
ISRO created a record in April 2008 when another PSLV core-alone version billeted home 10 satellites including India’s Cartosat-2A.
Launch campaign apace for lift-off of PSLV?C14 IDRW.ORG
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Light Combat Helicopter struggles to slim down
BY : AJAY SHUKLA
The HAL-manufactured aircraft is around 580 kg overweight.
A jinx seems to hover above the armed forces’ urgent need for modern attack helicopters to replace the obsolescent Russian Mi-35s, which have been around for three decades. In March, the defence ministry had to cancel a global tender for 22 attack helicopters after international vendors signalled little interest. Meanwhile, the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), has run into a serious weight problem.
Business Standard discovered, during a visit to Bangalore, that the LCH — which should weight about 2.5 tonnes — is overweight by some 580 kilograms. For operations in the plains, or in the foothills, this would not be a disaster. But at Himalayan altitudes, near the LCH’s ceiling of 6,000 metres (19,685 feet), this would dramatically reduce the helicopter’s payload of rockets and missiles.
This weight problem means the LCH’s first flight will only take place at the end of this year. Despite the delay, that first Technology Demonstrator, named TD-1, will still be 400 kg heavier than planned.
The Managing Director of HAL’s brand new Helicopter Complex, R Srinivasan, told Business Standard that the LCH’s weight would be progressively reduced over the first three prototypes. “We will find ways of cutting down TD-1 by 180-200 kg; TD-2, which will fly in mid-2010, will be another 100 kg lighter; and TD-3, which will be ready by end-2010, will shave off another 65-75 kg.”
That still adds up to only 375 kg, which means that the LCH could enter production 200 kg heavier than planned. HAL bosses say the IAF has accepted the extra weight.
Attack helicopters are amongst the most difficult combat platforms to successfully engineer. Even a helicopter maker like Sikorsky, which can boast of having designed the legendary Black Hawk helicopter, lost prestige and over $6.9 billion in a failed attempt to develop the Comanche attack helicopter.
But HAL remains confident it can navigate these treacherous waters. Many of the key technologies — e.g. the Shakti engine, the rotors and the main gearbox — that will go into the LCH are being concurrently proven in the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), 159 of which are being built for the army and the air force.
Meanwhile, the weapons and sensor packages that give the LCH its fighting edge are being tested on a weaponised version of the Dhruv. HAL and the IAF have zeroed in on a Nexter 20 mm turret mounted cannon, an MBDA air-to-air missile, and an EW suite from SAAB, South Africa. India’s Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) has begun work on a HELINA missile, which is the successful Nag missile with an extended range of 7 kilometres.
HAL’s focus on the LCH is evident. The newly created Helicopter Complex has set up a Mission and Combat Systems R&D Centre, or MCSRDC, which is focusing on developing indigenous glass cockpits for the range of helicopters that HAL intends to churn out, starting with the LCH.
A glass cockpit refers to the tidy digital multi-function display that replaces the earlier clutter of dials and instruments that made flying so difficult.
So far, HAL has imported the glass cockpit displays from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Sagem, of
France. But with a range of helicopters in the making — including 179 LCHs; 187 Light Utility Helicopters (LUH); and 400 or so Medium Lift Helicopters (MLH) — there is a need, HAL believes, to develop its own glass cockpits.
Light Combat Helicopter struggles to slim down IDRW.ORG
BY : AJAY SHUKLA
The HAL-manufactured aircraft is around 580 kg overweight.
A jinx seems to hover above the armed forces’ urgent need for modern attack helicopters to replace the obsolescent Russian Mi-35s, which have been around for three decades. In March, the defence ministry had to cancel a global tender for 22 attack helicopters after international vendors signalled little interest. Meanwhile, the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), has run into a serious weight problem.
Business Standard discovered, during a visit to Bangalore, that the LCH — which should weight about 2.5 tonnes — is overweight by some 580 kilograms. For operations in the plains, or in the foothills, this would not be a disaster. But at Himalayan altitudes, near the LCH’s ceiling of 6,000 metres (19,685 feet), this would dramatically reduce the helicopter’s payload of rockets and missiles.
This weight problem means the LCH’s first flight will only take place at the end of this year. Despite the delay, that first Technology Demonstrator, named TD-1, will still be 400 kg heavier than planned.
The Managing Director of HAL’s brand new Helicopter Complex, R Srinivasan, told Business Standard that the LCH’s weight would be progressively reduced over the first three prototypes. “We will find ways of cutting down TD-1 by 180-200 kg; TD-2, which will fly in mid-2010, will be another 100 kg lighter; and TD-3, which will be ready by end-2010, will shave off another 65-75 kg.”
That still adds up to only 375 kg, which means that the LCH could enter production 200 kg heavier than planned. HAL bosses say the IAF has accepted the extra weight.
Attack helicopters are amongst the most difficult combat platforms to successfully engineer. Even a helicopter maker like Sikorsky, which can boast of having designed the legendary Black Hawk helicopter, lost prestige and over $6.9 billion in a failed attempt to develop the Comanche attack helicopter.
But HAL remains confident it can navigate these treacherous waters. Many of the key technologies — e.g. the Shakti engine, the rotors and the main gearbox — that will go into the LCH are being concurrently proven in the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), 159 of which are being built for the army and the air force.
Meanwhile, the weapons and sensor packages that give the LCH its fighting edge are being tested on a weaponised version of the Dhruv. HAL and the IAF have zeroed in on a Nexter 20 mm turret mounted cannon, an MBDA air-to-air missile, and an EW suite from SAAB, South Africa. India’s Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) has begun work on a HELINA missile, which is the successful Nag missile with an extended range of 7 kilometres.
HAL’s focus on the LCH is evident. The newly created Helicopter Complex has set up a Mission and Combat Systems R&D Centre, or MCSRDC, which is focusing on developing indigenous glass cockpits for the range of helicopters that HAL intends to churn out, starting with the LCH.
A glass cockpit refers to the tidy digital multi-function display that replaces the earlier clutter of dials and instruments that made flying so difficult.
So far, HAL has imported the glass cockpit displays from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Sagem, of
France. But with a range of helicopters in the making — including 179 LCHs; 187 Light Utility Helicopters (LUH); and 400 or so Medium Lift Helicopters (MLH) — there is a need, HAL believes, to develop its own glass cockpits.
Light Combat Helicopter struggles to slim down IDRW.ORG
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8ak - Indian Defence News: HAL may make 100 seater civilian aircraft
02 Sep 2009 8ak: India seems to be finally finding the guts to take on China. After China's first indigenous civilian aircraft rolled off the assembly lines this year, India has announced plans to build one. Shiv Aroor reports that the plane to be built by HAL will be a spin-off from the Multi-role Transport Aircraft deal that will be signed by Defence Minister A. K. Antony in Russia next month
02 Sep 2009 8ak: India seems to be finally finding the guts to take on China. After China's first indigenous civilian aircraft rolled off the assembly lines this year, India has announced plans to build one. Shiv Aroor reports that the plane to be built by HAL will be a spin-off from the Multi-role Transport Aircraft deal that will be signed by Defence Minister A. K. Antony in Russia next month
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this is really interesting, kudos to DRDO:
Technology for bridges: Navy interested, to make warships stronger
Technology for bridges: Navy interested, to make warships stronger
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DRDO to develop low-cost, quick-result H1N1 test kit - India - NEWS - The Times of India
PUNE: India will soon have an indigenous low-cost H1N1 detection kit. Scientists at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) here
are developing this diagnostic tool that promises to be cost-effective and quicker in giving results. The kit will be available in the market in a couple of months.
At present, each test on the kits approved by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) costs around Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000. "The tests on the DRDO kit would cost just around Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000," said R B Srivastava, director (life sciences), DRDO. "Moreover, this kit will take just four to six hours to get the test results, whereas other kits take around 24 to 48 hours."
Srivastava said that work on the kits began four months ago. "The trials on the prototypes are under way at the high containment DRDO lab in Gwalior," he said.
PUNE: India will soon have an indigenous low-cost H1N1 detection kit. Scientists at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) here
are developing this diagnostic tool that promises to be cost-effective and quicker in giving results. The kit will be available in the market in a couple of months.
At present, each test on the kits approved by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) costs around Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000. "The tests on the DRDO kit would cost just around Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000," said R B Srivastava, director (life sciences), DRDO. "Moreover, this kit will take just four to six hours to get the test results, whereas other kits take around 24 to 48 hours."
Srivastava said that work on the kits began four months ago. "The trials on the prototypes are under way at the high containment DRDO lab in Gwalior," he said.
sayareakd
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1.13 lakh applications for 220 posts at DRDO
1.13 lakh applications for 220 posts at DRDO
By siliconindia news bureau
Monday,28 September 2009, 14:45 hrs
Bangalore: Recession seems to have turned the tide for employers and employees alike. With the ongoing job losses, the Defence Research and Development Organization is turning out to be a much sought after destination for job seekers. The premier defence organization received a whooping 1.13 lakh applications for the scientist entry test held recently.
The applications were received in response to an advertisement in May for 220 posts in the Defence, the R&D wing of the ministry of defence, a release said here today. More than 70 percent of the applicants appeared for the examination conducted on September 6 this month at 139 centres in 31 cities. For the test held in September last year to induct 500 scientists, only 43,215 had applied.
The organization is attracting more talent, because of the opportunities it provides to work on challenging technologies, in excellent working environment of laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, improved compensation, career growth prospects and performance oriented complementing scheme.
The DRDO has 52 laboratories spread across the country, engaged in developing wide range of military system.
1.13 lakh applications for 220 posts at DRDO - SiliconIndia
1.13 lakh applications for 220 posts at DRDO
By siliconindia news bureau
Monday,28 September 2009, 14:45 hrs
Bangalore: Recession seems to have turned the tide for employers and employees alike. With the ongoing job losses, the Defence Research and Development Organization is turning out to be a much sought after destination for job seekers. The premier defence organization received a whooping 1.13 lakh applications for the scientist entry test held recently.
The applications were received in response to an advertisement in May for 220 posts in the Defence, the R&D wing of the ministry of defence, a release said here today. More than 70 percent of the applicants appeared for the examination conducted on September 6 this month at 139 centres in 31 cities. For the test held in September last year to induct 500 scientists, only 43,215 had applied.
The organization is attracting more talent, because of the opportunities it provides to work on challenging technologies, in excellent working environment of laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, improved compensation, career growth prospects and performance oriented complementing scheme.
The DRDO has 52 laboratories spread across the country, engaged in developing wide range of military system.
1.13 lakh applications for 220 posts at DRDO - SiliconIndia
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ironman
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DRDO To Develop Surveillance Radar
DRDO To Develop Surveillance Radar
The state-owned Defence and Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is all set to develop an economical indigenous radar system which will help India achieve self reliance and boost the private sector participation in the defence business.
The Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), which is a part of the DRDO, is currently developing the low-cost radar system which they claim could be similar or even more advanced than the Israeli Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). CABS officials indicated that DRDO has technology to make an airborne early warning and control system (AEWC&S) which can be used to develop a radar similar to AWACS.
The Chief Controller of DRDO (R&D) Dr.Prahlada said that the indigenous AEWC&S, to be mounted on three Embraer-145 jets, being obtained from Brazil for $210 million will be very advanced with the latest image processing facilities and better software systems compared to foreign sophisticated radar systems.
DRDO officials indicated that the AEWC&S is scheduled for delivery by 2011 and it will be a $360 million project.
The advanced radar system will also be useful for the Indian Air Force (IAF) who are currently seeking to acquire 20 additional advanced systems. India has already acquired the AWACS from Israel earlier this year, which is part of a $1.1-billion defence deal with Israel. The system is designed to detect aircraft at high altitude and allows operators to distinguish between friendly and hostile aircraft from hundreds of miles away.
It has been estimated that the Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) would benefit in India since the project will create business opportunities worth $125 million approximately. Currently, DRDO and CABS are availing the services and acquiring products from SMEs and Public Sector Undertakings for the development of this system. CABS and its work centres like Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) and Defence Electronics Research Laboratory have developed indigenous software for tactical battle management and signal processing, which can be used in the radars. This has significantly reduced the cost of the advanced system and helped local players to tap the defence sector. Other public and private players involved are Astra Microwave, Alligator Designs, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Cornett, Data Patterns and Ayur.
Sources said that a South African wireless solutions provider Tellumat is holding talks with DRDO to have Identification, Friend or Foe (IFF) systems, which are used in programs such as AEWC&S. The IFF sensors proposal may be beneficial to India since it may create an opportunity for India if Tellumat plans to manufacture them here.
DRDO will also try to involve an international major for the integration and evaluation of the AEWC&S and the contenders include Israel’s Elta, European EADS, Sweden’s Saab Erikson and the US’ Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. This is aimed at reducing the cost and time overruns in the project.
DRDO To Develop Surveillance Radar
The state-owned Defence and Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is all set to develop an economical indigenous radar system which will help India achieve self reliance and boost the private sector participation in the defence business.
The Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), which is a part of the DRDO, is currently developing the low-cost radar system which they claim could be similar or even more advanced than the Israeli Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). CABS officials indicated that DRDO has technology to make an airborne early warning and control system (AEWC&S) which can be used to develop a radar similar to AWACS.
The Chief Controller of DRDO (R&D) Dr.Prahlada said that the indigenous AEWC&S, to be mounted on three Embraer-145 jets, being obtained from Brazil for $210 million will be very advanced with the latest image processing facilities and better software systems compared to foreign sophisticated radar systems.
DRDO officials indicated that the AEWC&S is scheduled for delivery by 2011 and it will be a $360 million project.
The advanced radar system will also be useful for the Indian Air Force (IAF) who are currently seeking to acquire 20 additional advanced systems. India has already acquired the AWACS from Israel earlier this year, which is part of a $1.1-billion defence deal with Israel. The system is designed to detect aircraft at high altitude and allows operators to distinguish between friendly and hostile aircraft from hundreds of miles away.
It has been estimated that the Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) would benefit in India since the project will create business opportunities worth $125 million approximately. Currently, DRDO and CABS are availing the services and acquiring products from SMEs and Public Sector Undertakings for the development of this system. CABS and its work centres like Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) and Defence Electronics Research Laboratory have developed indigenous software for tactical battle management and signal processing, which can be used in the radars. This has significantly reduced the cost of the advanced system and helped local players to tap the defence sector. Other public and private players involved are Astra Microwave, Alligator Designs, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Cornett, Data Patterns and Ayur.
Sources said that a South African wireless solutions provider Tellumat is holding talks with DRDO to have Identification, Friend or Foe (IFF) systems, which are used in programs such as AEWC&S. The IFF sensors proposal may be beneficial to India since it may create an opportunity for India if Tellumat plans to manufacture them here.
DRDO will also try to involve an international major for the integration and evaluation of the AEWC&S and the contenders include Israel’s Elta, European EADS, Sweden’s Saab Erikson and the US’ Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. This is aimed at reducing the cost and time overruns in the project.
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Trainers
The two above photos graphically illustrate both the missed opportunities as well as the challenges now confronting Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to deliver the new-generation HTT-40 advanced turboprop trainer to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The first photo is that of the long-forgotten HTT-35 advanced turboprop trainer, in particular its full-scale mock-up, which was designed and fabricated in-house by HAL in the late 1980s and rolled out in the early 1990s—all in all a four-year effort. The objective at that time was to team up with a global avionics supplier (most probably THALES) and co-design the semi-glass tandem cockpits and offer the aircraft for evaluation by the IAF by 1998. However, after 1994 the HTT-35 disappeared, literally! One can only speculate on what exactly happened to this full-scale mock-up, or on why did the MoD or IAF HQ develop a coordinated ‘memory loss’ on the need to series-produce the HTT-35. For it was realised as far back as 1998 that the induction of fourth-generation combat aircraft such as the Su-30MKI and the likely induction of additional medium multi-role combat aircraft (M-MRCA) and the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) would force the IAF sooner than later into undertaking a critical revision of its flying training practices that included primary flying training, intermediate flying training, and lead-in fighter training (LIFT).
Each of these three stages requires a dedicated flying training aircraft, starting with benign turboprop trainers, followed by intermediate jet trainers (IJT), and culminating in LIFT aircraft, following which those destined to fly combat aircraft are assigned to a dedicated Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) to convert to a particular aircraft type by either training on tactical simulators for some 40 hours, or directly proceeding to gain flight experience for some 200 hours on the single/twin-seat operational combat aircraft. As a rule, therefore, air forces worldwide upgrade their fleets of flying training aircraft by first procuring advanced turboprop trainers, followed by intermediate or advanced jet trainers, and lastly, LIFT aircraft. For the IAF, however, this is not the way flying training is being or has been conducted for a number of reasons. Firstly, Air HQ has yet to induct a suitable turboprop trainer to replace its existing fleet of piston-engined HPT-32 Deepak primary trainers of 1980s vintage. Although HAL had in the mid-1990s done considerable R & D work on the HTT-35 tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft, such efforts, for mysterious reasons, could not culminate in the HTT-35 being put to series-production. Secondly, HAL has for the past two years been unable to accelerate R & D work on the indigenous tandem-seat HJT-36 IJT, work on which began in July 1999, but the first prototype aircraft was able to take to the air only on March 7, 2003. To make matters worse, it was only on March 9, 2006 that the Cabinet Committee on National Security approved the acquisition of the first 12 production-standard IJTs at a cost of Rs4,868.2 million, which means initial deliveries will only get underway by late 2019. Meanwhile, deliveries of all BAE Systems Hawk Mk132s will be concluded before even the first 12 HJT-36s start rolling out. This, consequently, will result in the IAF’s Training Command revising its LIFT syllabus first and the intermediate flying training curriculum later—a top-down approach—instead of undertaking a bottoms-up approach. What is likely to complicate matters even further is the IAF’s inability, till this day, to procure both cockpit procedure trainers and tactical flying training simulators for frontline combat aircraft like the upgraded MiG-21 Bison and the upgraded MiG-27Ms. It is another story that existing simulators for the HAL-built Jaguar IS/IM and Dassault Mirage 2000H/TH are in dire need of upgrades and refurbishment.
Given the accelerated induction of Su-30MKIs and the impending induction of new-generation M-MRCAs and FGFAs, it is therefore highly likely that the MoD will soon issue global RFPs for up to 60 new-generation turboprop training aircraft and the follow-on tranche of 57 LIFT aircraft. Simply put, LIFT encompasses the entire process of preparing aircrew to both fly and undertake flight/weapon systems management found on board fourth- and fifth-generation combat aircraft in the most effective way. The idea here is to utilise LIFT aircraft and its related tactical full-motion simulators in a way that replicates the flight control and management characteristics of those frontline combat aircraft that have cost-prohibitive direct operating costs per flight hour. Typically, a LIFT aircraft therefore is employed for imparting flying training in the following phases: transition, all-weather formation flying, combat manoeuvring, low-level navigation, ground attack orientation, cockpit systems management, mission planning, weapons delivery, and multi-mode radar operations. Though the Hawk Mk132 is often touted as having ‘morphed’ into a LIFT aircraft, it cannot yet be classified as a LIFT platform for the following reasons:
• A LIFT aircraft, in order to replicate the flight control characteristics of aircraft like the Su-30MKI, PAK-FA or MiG-29K, will be required to have a digital, quadruplex fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system. The Hawk Mk132 does not have FBW flight controls.
• The LIFT aircraft must be supersonic and have a thrust-to-weight ratio between 0.7 and 1.0, against 0.45 for the Hawk Mk132, which is subsonic in flight.
• High angle-of-attack capability while maintaining full control, and possessing a multi-mode pulse-Doppler fire-control radar is a must for any LIFT aircraft. The Hawk Mk132 is found lacking in both these areas.
It is purely for these reasons that aircraft manufacturers like Aermacchi of Italy, Russia’s United Aircraft Corp and the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries have developed new-generation supersonic LIFT aircraft like the M-346, Yak-130 and T-50 Golden Eagle. Aircraft like these have been optimised for imparting basic combat training, weapons employment training, and enhancing the aircrew’s on-board avionics-related systems handling/management skills. The secondary role of such LIFT aircraft in wartime could be both defensive counter-air as well as tactical interdiction missions. Given such realities, the options ahead for the IAF are three-fold:
• Revive the HTT-35 along with HAL (as the HTT-40) and equip the aircraft’s cockpits with AMLCD-based electronic flight instrumentation systems (see Photo 2 above) designed to enhance the trainee pilot’s aircraft handling and systems management skills.
• Accelerate the certification process of the single-engined HJT-36 IJT and upgrade its cockpits by installing AMLCD-based avionics and electronic flight instrumentation/management systems, all integrated by MIL-STD-1553B digital data bus.
In addition, a LIFT-specific mission planning system should be developed as an integral part of the LIFT curriculum. Such a system, replicating those of frontline combat aircraft, should enable rapid mission planning on the ground, with aircraft loading via a manportable data loader. The mission data loader should be fully compatible with all frontline operational ground-based training systems, and should also act as the data storage medium for mission recording automatically from power-on to shutdown. To enable full mission playback after flight, the system should record all display input data, with provision for event markers where required.
The two above photos graphically illustrate both the missed opportunities as well as the challenges now confronting Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to deliver the new-generation HTT-40 advanced turboprop trainer to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The first photo is that of the long-forgotten HTT-35 advanced turboprop trainer, in particular its full-scale mock-up, which was designed and fabricated in-house by HAL in the late 1980s and rolled out in the early 1990s—all in all a four-year effort. The objective at that time was to team up with a global avionics supplier (most probably THALES) and co-design the semi-glass tandem cockpits and offer the aircraft for evaluation by the IAF by 1998. However, after 1994 the HTT-35 disappeared, literally! One can only speculate on what exactly happened to this full-scale mock-up, or on why did the MoD or IAF HQ develop a coordinated ‘memory loss’ on the need to series-produce the HTT-35. For it was realised as far back as 1998 that the induction of fourth-generation combat aircraft such as the Su-30MKI and the likely induction of additional medium multi-role combat aircraft (M-MRCA) and the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) would force the IAF sooner than later into undertaking a critical revision of its flying training practices that included primary flying training, intermediate flying training, and lead-in fighter training (LIFT).
Each of these three stages requires a dedicated flying training aircraft, starting with benign turboprop trainers, followed by intermediate jet trainers (IJT), and culminating in LIFT aircraft, following which those destined to fly combat aircraft are assigned to a dedicated Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) to convert to a particular aircraft type by either training on tactical simulators for some 40 hours, or directly proceeding to gain flight experience for some 200 hours on the single/twin-seat operational combat aircraft. As a rule, therefore, air forces worldwide upgrade their fleets of flying training aircraft by first procuring advanced turboprop trainers, followed by intermediate or advanced jet trainers, and lastly, LIFT aircraft. For the IAF, however, this is not the way flying training is being or has been conducted for a number of reasons. Firstly, Air HQ has yet to induct a suitable turboprop trainer to replace its existing fleet of piston-engined HPT-32 Deepak primary trainers of 1980s vintage. Although HAL had in the mid-1990s done considerable R & D work on the HTT-35 tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft, such efforts, for mysterious reasons, could not culminate in the HTT-35 being put to series-production. Secondly, HAL has for the past two years been unable to accelerate R & D work on the indigenous tandem-seat HJT-36 IJT, work on which began in July 1999, but the first prototype aircraft was able to take to the air only on March 7, 2003. To make matters worse, it was only on March 9, 2006 that the Cabinet Committee on National Security approved the acquisition of the first 12 production-standard IJTs at a cost of Rs4,868.2 million, which means initial deliveries will only get underway by late 2019. Meanwhile, deliveries of all BAE Systems Hawk Mk132s will be concluded before even the first 12 HJT-36s start rolling out. This, consequently, will result in the IAF’s Training Command revising its LIFT syllabus first and the intermediate flying training curriculum later—a top-down approach—instead of undertaking a bottoms-up approach. What is likely to complicate matters even further is the IAF’s inability, till this day, to procure both cockpit procedure trainers and tactical flying training simulators for frontline combat aircraft like the upgraded MiG-21 Bison and the upgraded MiG-27Ms. It is another story that existing simulators for the HAL-built Jaguar IS/IM and Dassault Mirage 2000H/TH are in dire need of upgrades and refurbishment.
Given the accelerated induction of Su-30MKIs and the impending induction of new-generation M-MRCAs and FGFAs, it is therefore highly likely that the MoD will soon issue global RFPs for up to 60 new-generation turboprop training aircraft and the follow-on tranche of 57 LIFT aircraft. Simply put, LIFT encompasses the entire process of preparing aircrew to both fly and undertake flight/weapon systems management found on board fourth- and fifth-generation combat aircraft in the most effective way. The idea here is to utilise LIFT aircraft and its related tactical full-motion simulators in a way that replicates the flight control and management characteristics of those frontline combat aircraft that have cost-prohibitive direct operating costs per flight hour. Typically, a LIFT aircraft therefore is employed for imparting flying training in the following phases: transition, all-weather formation flying, combat manoeuvring, low-level navigation, ground attack orientation, cockpit systems management, mission planning, weapons delivery, and multi-mode radar operations. Though the Hawk Mk132 is often touted as having ‘morphed’ into a LIFT aircraft, it cannot yet be classified as a LIFT platform for the following reasons:
• A LIFT aircraft, in order to replicate the flight control characteristics of aircraft like the Su-30MKI, PAK-FA or MiG-29K, will be required to have a digital, quadruplex fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system. The Hawk Mk132 does not have FBW flight controls.
• The LIFT aircraft must be supersonic and have a thrust-to-weight ratio between 0.7 and 1.0, against 0.45 for the Hawk Mk132, which is subsonic in flight.
• High angle-of-attack capability while maintaining full control, and possessing a multi-mode pulse-Doppler fire-control radar is a must for any LIFT aircraft. The Hawk Mk132 is found lacking in both these areas.
It is purely for these reasons that aircraft manufacturers like Aermacchi of Italy, Russia’s United Aircraft Corp and the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries have developed new-generation supersonic LIFT aircraft like the M-346, Yak-130 and T-50 Golden Eagle. Aircraft like these have been optimised for imparting basic combat training, weapons employment training, and enhancing the aircrew’s on-board avionics-related systems handling/management skills. The secondary role of such LIFT aircraft in wartime could be both defensive counter-air as well as tactical interdiction missions. Given such realities, the options ahead for the IAF are three-fold:
• Revive the HTT-35 along with HAL (as the HTT-40) and equip the aircraft’s cockpits with AMLCD-based electronic flight instrumentation systems (see Photo 2 above) designed to enhance the trainee pilot’s aircraft handling and systems management skills.
• Accelerate the certification process of the single-engined HJT-36 IJT and upgrade its cockpits by installing AMLCD-based avionics and electronic flight instrumentation/management systems, all integrated by MIL-STD-1553B digital data bus.
In addition, a LIFT-specific mission planning system should be developed as an integral part of the LIFT curriculum. Such a system, replicating those of frontline combat aircraft, should enable rapid mission planning on the ground, with aircraft loading via a manportable data loader. The mission data loader should be fully compatible with all frontline operational ground-based training systems, and should also act as the data storage medium for mission recording automatically from power-on to shutdown. To enable full mission playback after flight, the system should record all display input data, with provision for event markers where required.
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Strategic national producer Midhani on high growth curve
American, Japanese and European nuclear non-proliferation officials are keenly aware that Hyderabad-based Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani), supplies key materials for India’s nuclear, space and missile programmes. Midhani figures on all these countries’ ‘Entity Lists’, which have legally blocked supplies of materials, know-how and equipment.
But this international blockade has been in vain, I learn, during an exclusive visit to this most secretive of defence PSUs. “Despite the sanctions,” says Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), K Narayana Rao, “Midhani today manufactures the world’s best maraging steel, a critical component in nuclear reactors, fuel enrichment centrifuges, missiles and space rockets. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s GSLV rockets are clad in Midhani’s maraging steel.”
Such breakthroughs in strategic materials have placed Midhani in an unusual position. With international sanctions still in place, Midhani has joined one of the world’s most challenging, futuristic and expensive projects: The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, a $10 billion, multinational project that aims to generate electricity through nuclear fusion by 2018. India joined the project in 2005.
“We have produced a material called Low Activation Ferretic Martinsitic Steel, which the ITER project urgently needs”, explains a Midhani scientist. “This steel must have very low activation, allowing it to be placed in a highly radioactive environment (e.g. inside a reactor) without becoming highly radioactive itself. The ITER authorities are presently evaluating it at the Institute of Plasma Research in Gandhinagar.”
This foray into ITER is a one-time thing. Midhani remains a boutique manufacturer, focused exclusively on high-performance materials for India’s space, nuclear and defence programmes, to save these from being hostage to a supplier abroad. This is production at the cutting edge, groping in the dark, mixing and matching elements to develop materials that users have defined only as a set of properties.
“We experiment, we play with Molly,” explains Narayana Rao, describing the search for special alloys. Noting my startled look, he elaborates, “Molly is short for molybdenum, an element that gives special properties to steel.”
Midhani works in close partnership with the Defence Materials Research Laboratory (DMRL), located next door. DMRL, focusing on fundamental research, develops new alloys and materials; Midhani scales up DMRL’s laboratory production into industrial production.
Set up in 1972, Midhani’s mandate was to indigenously produce materials for India’s strategic programmes, without regard to cost or profitability. Today, Midhani delivers not only critical materials but hefty profits as well. Midhani is now a Mini Ratna, Category-1 company; its profits have gone up six-fold in the past four years, to Rs 40 crore in 2008-09.
With Midhani’s regular customers ramping up operations, that bottom line is poised to grow. From an average of four to five launches a year, Indian Space Research Organisation is stepping up to eight launches per year. And since nuclear power generation is a growth sector, the demand for reactor materials is likely to rise sharply. “BHEL and L&T have got a steam generator order for the Indian 700 Mw Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR),” says Narayana Rao. “I need to be ready with my equipment and materials.”
The older Indian reactors, such as those at Kalpakkam, are also replacing critical components. Only Midhani supplies the metals needed for this.
Midhani has begun a Rs 200-crore expansion plan, with Rs 100 crore from its internal accruals, supplemented by Rs 100 crore of equity participation by the MoD. It is adding a high-tech, 10-tonne vacuum arc refining (VAR) furnace, in which molten metal is purified by dripping it, drop-by-drop, through vacuum. The impurities, which become gas at those temperatures, are sucked away by the vacuum.
Also being procured is a 6,000-tonne forge press, to press steel into sheets as thin as four millimetres, needed for India’s rocket programme.
“Today, I’m running 2,000 tonnes of products per year,” says Midhani’s CMD. “When the expansion plan is completed by 2010-2011, our output will double to 4,000 tonnes. Turnover will go from Rs 300 crore to Rs 500 crore.”
American, Japanese and European nuclear non-proliferation officials are keenly aware that Hyderabad-based Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani), supplies key materials for India’s nuclear, space and missile programmes. Midhani figures on all these countries’ ‘Entity Lists’, which have legally blocked supplies of materials, know-how and equipment.
But this international blockade has been in vain, I learn, during an exclusive visit to this most secretive of defence PSUs. “Despite the sanctions,” says Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), K Narayana Rao, “Midhani today manufactures the world’s best maraging steel, a critical component in nuclear reactors, fuel enrichment centrifuges, missiles and space rockets. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s GSLV rockets are clad in Midhani’s maraging steel.”
Such breakthroughs in strategic materials have placed Midhani in an unusual position. With international sanctions still in place, Midhani has joined one of the world’s most challenging, futuristic and expensive projects: The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, a $10 billion, multinational project that aims to generate electricity through nuclear fusion by 2018. India joined the project in 2005.
“We have produced a material called Low Activation Ferretic Martinsitic Steel, which the ITER project urgently needs”, explains a Midhani scientist. “This steel must have very low activation, allowing it to be placed in a highly radioactive environment (e.g. inside a reactor) without becoming highly radioactive itself. The ITER authorities are presently evaluating it at the Institute of Plasma Research in Gandhinagar.”
This foray into ITER is a one-time thing. Midhani remains a boutique manufacturer, focused exclusively on high-performance materials for India’s space, nuclear and defence programmes, to save these from being hostage to a supplier abroad. This is production at the cutting edge, groping in the dark, mixing and matching elements to develop materials that users have defined only as a set of properties.
“We experiment, we play with Molly,” explains Narayana Rao, describing the search for special alloys. Noting my startled look, he elaborates, “Molly is short for molybdenum, an element that gives special properties to steel.”
Midhani works in close partnership with the Defence Materials Research Laboratory (DMRL), located next door. DMRL, focusing on fundamental research, develops new alloys and materials; Midhani scales up DMRL’s laboratory production into industrial production.
Set up in 1972, Midhani’s mandate was to indigenously produce materials for India’s strategic programmes, without regard to cost or profitability. Today, Midhani delivers not only critical materials but hefty profits as well. Midhani is now a Mini Ratna, Category-1 company; its profits have gone up six-fold in the past four years, to Rs 40 crore in 2008-09.
With Midhani’s regular customers ramping up operations, that bottom line is poised to grow. From an average of four to five launches a year, Indian Space Research Organisation is stepping up to eight launches per year. And since nuclear power generation is a growth sector, the demand for reactor materials is likely to rise sharply. “BHEL and L&T have got a steam generator order for the Indian 700 Mw Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR),” says Narayana Rao. “I need to be ready with my equipment and materials.”
The older Indian reactors, such as those at Kalpakkam, are also replacing critical components. Only Midhani supplies the metals needed for this.
Midhani has begun a Rs 200-crore expansion plan, with Rs 100 crore from its internal accruals, supplemented by Rs 100 crore of equity participation by the MoD. It is adding a high-tech, 10-tonne vacuum arc refining (VAR) furnace, in which molten metal is purified by dripping it, drop-by-drop, through vacuum. The impurities, which become gas at those temperatures, are sucked away by the vacuum.
Also being procured is a 6,000-tonne forge press, to press steel into sheets as thin as four millimetres, needed for India’s rocket programme.
“Today, I’m running 2,000 tonnes of products per year,” says Midhani’s CMD. “When the expansion plan is completed by 2010-2011, our output will double to 4,000 tonnes. Turnover will go from Rs 300 crore to Rs 500 crore.”
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2009
- Messages
- 7,550
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- 1,309
Defence engine
T.S. SUBRAMANIAN
The DRDO’s Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) is focussing on innovative and customised solutions for the armed forces.
ENORMOUS machines are lined up on a maidan. One of them, painted in olive green, looks like a huge stack of massive boxes piled up on wheels. But as the engine revs up, the boxes open and buoys balloon out. In no time, the Amphibious Floating Bridge and Ferry System (AFFS) is ready to carry battle tanks and trucks across rivers.
Some distance away stands an enormous Tatra truck with platforms behind the driver’s cabin. At the touch of a button, five such platforms, each 15 metres long, open out and form a 75-m-long bridge on telescopic legs in 90 minutes. This bridge, Sarvatra, can withstand 10,000 passes of battle tanks.
Nearby is what looks like a modified battle tank, with massive hammers at the end of flails. As the machine erupts to life, the hammers smash mines buried up to a depth of 25 cm in the ground, tossing them out and clearing a 4-metre-wide safe lane for vehicles to pass. This is the Counter Mine Flail T-72.
“We are a multifaceted organisation,” said B. Rajagopalan, Director, Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in Pune. “Our forte is innovative engineering. All our products are 100 per cent indigenous.”
Pune, along with Ambernath and Ahmednagar, all in Maharashtra, is one of the hubs of the DRDO, which provides a broad array of technologies to the Indian armed forces. With 52 laboratories across the country, the DRDO is one of the biggest defence R&D organisations in the world.
W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller (Life Sciences and Human Resources), DRDO, summed it up: “No country has an organisation like DRDO, which delivers a broad spectrum of technologies and systems such as battle tanks, families of missiles, radars, torpedoes and sonars, electronic warfare systems, arms and ammunition including the INSAS [Indian Small Arms System], the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher, shelters for protection against nuclear, chemical and biological warfare, bio-digesters, cream to fight frostbite, and so on.”
Pune has four DRDO centres: the R&DE(E), the Armaments Research and Development Establishment, the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory and the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, which offers M.Tech and Ph.D programmes. R&DE(E)’s engineers built the Dakshin Gangotri and Maitri, India’s research stations at Antarctica. Work on the third research station at Antarctica is set to begin.
The work done by the R&DE(E) in re-engineering the Tatra truck into the Sarvatra is awesome. With the help of telescopic legs, the height of the bridge can be adjusted from 2.5 m to 6 m so that it is not easily visible to the enemy. The spans are made of a light but strong alloy of aluminium, magnesium and zinc.
India’s main battle tank, Arjun, has taken the “avatar” of a bridge laying tank (BLT). The R&DE(E) did this by replacing the tank’s gun and turret with the bridge launcher. The bridge is cantilevered over chasms or across rivers to cover a distance of 26 m with a width of 4 m. The BLT-Arjun carries two halves of a bridge. At a wet or dry gap, the launcher slides the two parts and docks them to each other in such a way that the far end of the second half touches the other bank. The BLT then crosses the bridge, turns around, retrieves the bridge after undocking its two halves, folds it and is ready to move with the armoured column. U.R. Gautam, Joint Director R&DE(E), called it “a great piece of engineering”.
The laboratory has also modified the T-72 battle tank into a BLT, which can launch a bridge 20-m long and 4-m wide in just five minutes. The tank loses its gun and turret, but the driver’s compartments remain to provide a clear view to manoeuvre it. The system has an anti-aircraft gun to guard against aerial attacks and a smoke discharger to lay the bridge under a smoke-screen. It has beta-light markers to guide the traffic at night. The Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi in Chennai produces the BLT T-72s. The Army has bought 12 of them and is likely to place orders for more.
The Combat Engineering Group led by N.B. Vijayakumar came up with the Counter Mine Flail by fitting flails and hammers to the T-72 tank. “No other country except Germany has done this on a tank,” said Gautam.
The Counter Mine Flail has a series of 10-kg hammers that pulverise mines by beating them at 400 revolutions a minute, said Naresh Kumar, a scientist. “The Counter Mine Flail T-72 has a separate power source and does not tap the T-72 main engine power,” he added.
Sarvatra, developed by R&DE(E), can lay a 75-metre-long and 15-metre-wide bridge in 90 minutes.
Another innovation is a machine that lays mats made of aluminium alloy to help vehicles in marshy terrain. The AFFS metamorphoses from a 10-m-long box-on-wheels into bridge-cum-ferry, which is 28.4-m long and 3.6-m wide in just nine minutes. “The whole body is watertight. It can also be used as a ramp,” said Gautam.
The R&DE(E) personnel have also built a series of launchers (platforms with power and air supply) for firing missiles such as Agni, Akash, Prithvi and Trishul. Rajagopalan is particularly proud of the launcher plus control system built for the K-15 missile that will be fired from INS Arihant, the nuclear-powered submarine.
In a brilliant piece of engineering, the teams headed by V.V. Parlikar and P.M. Kurulkar, both Joint Directors, modified the T-72 battle tank’s chassis into a launcher system for firing surface-to-air Akash missiles. The Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) at Avadi helped them modify the T-72 for this role. The launcher’s electrical systems are servo-driven. The swivelling launcher has a 360-degree firing freedom. “The launcher has proved its worth with 60 flights of Akash taking off from it. The IAF has placed orders for 16 launcher systems on trailers,” Parlikar and Kurulkar said.
Daksh speaks for the ingenuity of the R&DE(E). It is a battery-operated robot on wheels and its primary role is to recover improvised explosive devices (IEDs). It locates IEDs with an X-ray machine, picks them up with a gripper-arm and defuses them with a jet of water. It has a shotgun, which can break open locked doors, and it can scan cars for explosives. Daksh can also climb staircases, negotiate steep slopes, navigate narrow corridors and tow vehicles. Alok Mukherjee, a scientist, said: “With a master control station (MCS), it can be remotely controlled over a range of 500 m in line of sight or within buildings. Ninety per cent of the robot’s components are indigenous. The Army has placed orders for 20 Dakshs.”
Research is under way at the Composites Research Centre (CRC) of the laboratory on light-weight structures. According to Kiran Akella, a scientist, the centre has developed a bridge made of carbon-epoxy composites. This is 30 per cent lighter than the ones made of aluminium. The 5-m-long bridge weighs just 1.2 tonnes, but it can carry a 70-tonne battle tank. Fibre-optic sensors embedded in the bridge help it monitor itself.
According to Rajagopalan, the R&DE(E), with support from the Navy, has ventured into building the superstructure of Corvette-class warships with carbon-epoxy composites. Next would be the development of ship hulls with fibre-reinforced plastic. The centre is developing hulls made of composites and ceramic armour for infantry combat vehicles.
An offshoot of composites research is the development of hip implants. Makarand Joshi, who conceived it, explains that imported hip transplants, made of steel, are expensive and are suited only for the European body structure.
“We have customised the implant for individuals,” Joshi said. It has been tested on 40 cadavers. Clinical trials will start soon after the Ethics Committee of the Medical Council of India clears it.
T.S. SUBRAMANIAN
The DRDO’s Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) is focussing on innovative and customised solutions for the armed forces.
ENORMOUS machines are lined up on a maidan. One of them, painted in olive green, looks like a huge stack of massive boxes piled up on wheels. But as the engine revs up, the boxes open and buoys balloon out. In no time, the Amphibious Floating Bridge and Ferry System (AFFS) is ready to carry battle tanks and trucks across rivers.
Some distance away stands an enormous Tatra truck with platforms behind the driver’s cabin. At the touch of a button, five such platforms, each 15 metres long, open out and form a 75-m-long bridge on telescopic legs in 90 minutes. This bridge, Sarvatra, can withstand 10,000 passes of battle tanks.
Nearby is what looks like a modified battle tank, with massive hammers at the end of flails. As the machine erupts to life, the hammers smash mines buried up to a depth of 25 cm in the ground, tossing them out and clearing a 4-metre-wide safe lane for vehicles to pass. This is the Counter Mine Flail T-72.
“We are a multifaceted organisation,” said B. Rajagopalan, Director, Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in Pune. “Our forte is innovative engineering. All our products are 100 per cent indigenous.”
Pune, along with Ambernath and Ahmednagar, all in Maharashtra, is one of the hubs of the DRDO, which provides a broad array of technologies to the Indian armed forces. With 52 laboratories across the country, the DRDO is one of the biggest defence R&D organisations in the world.
W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller (Life Sciences and Human Resources), DRDO, summed it up: “No country has an organisation like DRDO, which delivers a broad spectrum of technologies and systems such as battle tanks, families of missiles, radars, torpedoes and sonars, electronic warfare systems, arms and ammunition including the INSAS [Indian Small Arms System], the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher, shelters for protection against nuclear, chemical and biological warfare, bio-digesters, cream to fight frostbite, and so on.”
Pune has four DRDO centres: the R&DE(E), the Armaments Research and Development Establishment, the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory and the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, which offers M.Tech and Ph.D programmes. R&DE(E)’s engineers built the Dakshin Gangotri and Maitri, India’s research stations at Antarctica. Work on the third research station at Antarctica is set to begin.
The work done by the R&DE(E) in re-engineering the Tatra truck into the Sarvatra is awesome. With the help of telescopic legs, the height of the bridge can be adjusted from 2.5 m to 6 m so that it is not easily visible to the enemy. The spans are made of a light but strong alloy of aluminium, magnesium and zinc.
India’s main battle tank, Arjun, has taken the “avatar” of a bridge laying tank (BLT). The R&DE(E) did this by replacing the tank’s gun and turret with the bridge launcher. The bridge is cantilevered over chasms or across rivers to cover a distance of 26 m with a width of 4 m. The BLT-Arjun carries two halves of a bridge. At a wet or dry gap, the launcher slides the two parts and docks them to each other in such a way that the far end of the second half touches the other bank. The BLT then crosses the bridge, turns around, retrieves the bridge after undocking its two halves, folds it and is ready to move with the armoured column. U.R. Gautam, Joint Director R&DE(E), called it “a great piece of engineering”.
The laboratory has also modified the T-72 battle tank into a BLT, which can launch a bridge 20-m long and 4-m wide in just five minutes. The tank loses its gun and turret, but the driver’s compartments remain to provide a clear view to manoeuvre it. The system has an anti-aircraft gun to guard against aerial attacks and a smoke discharger to lay the bridge under a smoke-screen. It has beta-light markers to guide the traffic at night. The Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi in Chennai produces the BLT T-72s. The Army has bought 12 of them and is likely to place orders for more.
The Combat Engineering Group led by N.B. Vijayakumar came up with the Counter Mine Flail by fitting flails and hammers to the T-72 tank. “No other country except Germany has done this on a tank,” said Gautam.
The Counter Mine Flail has a series of 10-kg hammers that pulverise mines by beating them at 400 revolutions a minute, said Naresh Kumar, a scientist. “The Counter Mine Flail T-72 has a separate power source and does not tap the T-72 main engine power,” he added.
Sarvatra, developed by R&DE(E), can lay a 75-metre-long and 15-metre-wide bridge in 90 minutes.
Another innovation is a machine that lays mats made of aluminium alloy to help vehicles in marshy terrain. The AFFS metamorphoses from a 10-m-long box-on-wheels into bridge-cum-ferry, which is 28.4-m long and 3.6-m wide in just nine minutes. “The whole body is watertight. It can also be used as a ramp,” said Gautam.
The R&DE(E) personnel have also built a series of launchers (platforms with power and air supply) for firing missiles such as Agni, Akash, Prithvi and Trishul. Rajagopalan is particularly proud of the launcher plus control system built for the K-15 missile that will be fired from INS Arihant, the nuclear-powered submarine.
In a brilliant piece of engineering, the teams headed by V.V. Parlikar and P.M. Kurulkar, both Joint Directors, modified the T-72 battle tank’s chassis into a launcher system for firing surface-to-air Akash missiles. The Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) at Avadi helped them modify the T-72 for this role. The launcher’s electrical systems are servo-driven. The swivelling launcher has a 360-degree firing freedom. “The launcher has proved its worth with 60 flights of Akash taking off from it. The IAF has placed orders for 16 launcher systems on trailers,” Parlikar and Kurulkar said.
Daksh speaks for the ingenuity of the R&DE(E). It is a battery-operated robot on wheels and its primary role is to recover improvised explosive devices (IEDs). It locates IEDs with an X-ray machine, picks them up with a gripper-arm and defuses them with a jet of water. It has a shotgun, which can break open locked doors, and it can scan cars for explosives. Daksh can also climb staircases, negotiate steep slopes, navigate narrow corridors and tow vehicles. Alok Mukherjee, a scientist, said: “With a master control station (MCS), it can be remotely controlled over a range of 500 m in line of sight or within buildings. Ninety per cent of the robot’s components are indigenous. The Army has placed orders for 20 Dakshs.”
Research is under way at the Composites Research Centre (CRC) of the laboratory on light-weight structures. According to Kiran Akella, a scientist, the centre has developed a bridge made of carbon-epoxy composites. This is 30 per cent lighter than the ones made of aluminium. The 5-m-long bridge weighs just 1.2 tonnes, but it can carry a 70-tonne battle tank. Fibre-optic sensors embedded in the bridge help it monitor itself.
According to Rajagopalan, the R&DE(E), with support from the Navy, has ventured into building the superstructure of Corvette-class warships with carbon-epoxy composites. Next would be the development of ship hulls with fibre-reinforced plastic. The centre is developing hulls made of composites and ceramic armour for infantry combat vehicles.
An offshoot of composites research is the development of hip implants. Makarand Joshi, who conceived it, explains that imported hip transplants, made of steel, are expensive and are suited only for the European body structure.
“We have customised the implant for individuals,” Joshi said. It has been tested on 40 cadavers. Clinical trials will start soon after the Ethics Committee of the Medical Council of India clears it.
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solid state devices
the technologies being described are decades behind. unless you are saying htat that is what the sanctins have done to the country ?
also the products shown are school-book material
again not sure what you are trying to tell us , please ?
not sure what is supposed to be achieved by this post ?
the technologies being described are decades behind. unless you are saying htat that is what the sanctins have done to the country ?
also the products shown are school-book material
again not sure what you are trying to tell us , please ?
- Joined
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- Messages
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