India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 05 Feb 2016 17:50

HAL produces whatever IAF procures. Remember the first time they put their foot down not to produce Pilatus trainers IAF chief threatened to produce them in BRD.

Similarly to manufacture Su 30 completely locally, timeline was a little longer. But since IAF instead for quicker deliveries contract was changed to speed up CKD shipments. It was only recently when first Su was produced with complete raw material.

But now HAL is working on an upgrade kit for Hawk, LAH, LUH, HTT 40, LCA, small engines. Things only grow slowly.

In the case of Navy however they produce warship design, then a designated shipyard is chosen to realize it. Slowly I hope these shipyards will also start producing their own designs. But that's how to reached the point where we can procure ships without waiting for 10 yrs to finalize contracts. It's the only way fwd.

All that happens is tied to our national and strategic vision. We wanted independence in nuke, missile, radar and warship design and we achieved it.

There is nothing we cannot do if we want to. If we want only LCA to be part of IAF, if we want only Kaveri to power LCA, we can do it.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 05 Feb 2016 17:56

Neela wrote:

Boost to Make in India: HAL Rolls-out HTT-40 Prototype

Bengaluru February 2, 2016:

HAL has rolled-out the first prototype of HTT-40 with the aircraft sporting all the aircraft lights and powered on cockpit. Mr. T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL said that the HTT-40 prototype efforts symbolizes the renewed and revitalized proactive approach at HAL. “It is important that all of us work towards meeting deadlines by overcoming challenges to meet the expectations at various levels. The project has managed to steer through the initial headwinds and now is going full throttle. There are plans to weaponize and optimize HTT-40 aircraft”, he added.

In any other nation such prototype would have been presented in a hall jam packed with journalists, smoke filled stage, and all company honchos singing praises for the plane. Just watch how media received LM T-X, basically a KAI T-50 variant.

Here it was almost ignored, a low res image was released to journalists, with a one liner by HAL CEO. I mean how much more you can do to make it unattractive.

member_29089 · Post by **member_29089** » 05 Feb 2016 19:11

nileshjr wrote:GoI money is going back to GoI. Why anyone should have takleef for that?? OTOH if the advances are stopped, how will DPSU start investments on long lead items. It seems to be a better situation for all when there is money available for DPSUs to start work on anything without waiting for funding to get approved. Already there is so much less being spent on MIC and MoD waits for clearing of files from MoF all the time. I do agree that this money should be invested back in RnD in the company itself rather than giving out dividends. The DPSUs can be smart here. But I guess, if GoI arm-twists them to surrender money to spend on some populist 'yojana', or to balance the money syphoned off to swiss bank, then there isn't much the management of DPSUs could do much. All in all, I don't see the point of the article unless there is some syphoning off of the money or such scam.

GoI money going to GoI does not make what HAL does (or does not do) right. HAL has utterly failed to deliver quality manufactured product for the customers. The reasons could be outside of HAL but it's HAL that has not delivered the goods.

For example: how many of ya want to bet that 8/year and 16/year LCA production target will not be met by the promised date? Why are we willifying Matheswaran?

In fact all government owned defense PSU have failed to deliver the promised goods in general. The reasons are many. Lack of leadership, lack of quality education (despite the bravado), lack of championing a cause, lack of management skills, lack of accountability, lack of focus .... etc etc

I often drive by "Animal Husbandry Research Center", "Armament Research & Development Establishment", "Agriculture Research Institute", "CSIR", "NCL"... and other Mind Numbing Indian Acronyms (MNIA

) and often wonder when will Modi government see the waste and shut them down.

It's about time GoI actively cultivates private industry players.. Baba Kalyanis, Ambanis, Tatas, L&T, there are many takers... shut the buggers down, and if I were in charge, charge the PSU management with treason.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 05 Feb 2016 19:32

How many such places in UK and US have you driven by?
Govt has to fund research in key areas.

Most MNC R&D is their govt research wrapped with a bow and presented as IRAD.

Weapons come from govt labs. Their mfg comes from industry.

Even great Tatas can make thing but doesn't mean they know how it works.
And Indian businessmen have been satisfied with 105 markup through the ages.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 05 Feb 2016 19:49

nileshjr wrote:One query regarding this raw material import by HAL. Isn't HAL is bound by contract to procure raw material from Russian suppliers only for Su-30 even when they manufacture the components from scratch in-house??

Exactly. It can only use its own raw material and even indigenize above and beyond for spares (not original builds). This and other items were presumably renegotiated to a degree during Parrikars attempts to fix things recently.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 05 Feb 2016 20:05

THis raw material business for aerospace is not a joke.

There are many intricacies in the way metal is made, forged, rolled and heat treated.

And risky to do substitution without knowing the design.

Eg. from a different industry.

The axles of a roller coaster cart were specified to be machined from 4340 Modified steel of a certain diameter. The purchasing manager got a good price on finished size 4340 modified steel and bought it. The machine shop just machined the ends for fitting the wheels. Every one got a productivity awards and purchasing mgr got fat bonus.

The problem came when the axles started breaking in a foreign country amusement park where this was installed. They went back to the designer and he found the mismatch in the rod stock he specified and what was installed.

The reason why he chose the larger size rod stock and had it machined is there is s a small surface layer in rolled stock which has micro cracks. Its called machining allowance. The net size stock purchased had the micro crack layer still there and broke down due to fatigue in use.

So again lack of designer knowledge can lead to very bad consequences.

Also Indian industry with power cuts could have melt quality issues which are masked and could still be good enough for normal industry use but not aerospace.

That's is why I had repeatedly asked about the titanium sponge plant as to how many melts are planned?

Two and even three for space applications to get rid of micro impurities.

member_28108 · Post by **member_28108** » 05 Feb 2016 21:11

They ahve taken alternate paths for example the Landing gear had a part which would crack after so many hours of use and the Vanadium block had to be sourced only from Russia at a stupendous cost. A lot of work was done and a composite add on splint was added which allowed extended use of the vanadium part.It required extensive FEM, fatigue testing etc (They showed it in the NAL expo at Adamya Chethana. This was within the ambit of the clauses. This allowed using that part for a significantly longer time. Required a lot of R and D but saved our country a lot of moolah.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 05 Feb 2016 21:28

The Su-30 landing gear? Thats a pretty big thing. HAL etc don't do the least to showcase their achievements which is what leads folks like shri M2 to disparage them 24/7.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 05 Feb 2016 21:34

Aditya G wrote:
Aditya_V wrote:....And all aviation/defence companies will be paid Advances, it is like telling a builder or contractor to build a house and expect payment after delivery. How many contractors would agree to that. Sure whatever excess cash flow they will do some temporary investments and earn some interest income. That article is a hit job, its time to call a spade a spade....
as per article DPSUs benefit from advances made without meeting project milestones:

... defence forces under pressure to spend them within the financial year, it is now a well-established practice for them to give away significant advances to the defence PSUs, even if there is significant delay in production, and products are not delivered for years.

There is truth to this especially for OFB. But again, statements like the above can be construed to be gross oversimplifications as well. The services may well regard agreements to be set in stone and local development to be a waste of time etc, which does not deliver etc hence foreign cooperation is sought, but what if the foreign partner does not cooperate? We have info from the horses's mouth - ALH team, on how their German consultants gave the wrong information or were completely clueless about what to do, despite statements to the contrary. India had to fix things. The CAG report on Su30 deal shows the average delay from the Russian side was 12-36 months (1-3 years) in providing TOT and documentation. Let alone spares and fixing design issues which we now have ample data on how there were issues with engines and so forth.
At public events, the HAL guys say at least the Russians listen, the French are yet to! So one can imagine the depth of challenge faced.

Ultimately buck stops with MOD/MOF for choosing easy way out "license manufacture" each time around & also making sure DPSUs don't have the autonomy to fix things either. And the services demands are a whole different pile of fish.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 05 Feb 2016 23:15

Keep your favorite sports racket, bat, stick or club while you read this on number game alone.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/h ... 194894.ece
HAL’s import, assemble, supply ‘model’

Josy Joseph

enaiel · Post by **enaiel** » 06 Feb 2016 08:58

X-posting from US mil thread to show how US armed forces support their domestic MIC:

enaiel wrote:Not sure if this was posted before, but Aviation Week has a copy of the 48-page annual project report on the F-35 JSF by Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E).

http://aviationweek.com/site-files/avia ... Report.pdf

It has some interesting observations on the current state of the Block 2B:

The program terminated Block 2B developmental flight testing in May 2015, delivering Block 2B capability with deficiencies and limited combat capability. The Marine Corps declared IOC at the end of July 2015. However, if used in combat, the Block 2B F-35 will need support from command and control elements to avoid threats, assist in target acquisition, and control weapons employment for the limited weapons carriage available (i.e., two bombs, two air-to-air missiles). Block 2B deficiencies in fusion, electronic warfare, and weapons employment result in ambiguous threat displays, limited ability to respond to threats, and a requirement for off-board sources to provide accurate coordinates for precision attack. Since Block 2B F-35 aircraft are limited to two air-to-air missiles, they will require other support if operations are contested by enemy fighter aircraft.
But you don't hear anyone from Marine Corps bad mouthing the aircraft to the press. Instead, they raised a squadron of these "deficient" fighters, and inducted them. And this is what they said during the induction ceremony:

http://www.marines.mil/News/NewsDisplay ... ional.aspx

“I am pleased to announce that VMFA-121 has achieved Initial Operational Capability in the F-35B, as defined by requirements outlined in the June 2014 Joint Report to Congressional Defense Committees,” said Gen. Joseph Dunford, Commandant of the Marine Corps. “VMFA-121 has ten aircraft in the Block 2B configuration with the requisite performance envelope and weapons clearances, to include the training, sustainment capabilities, and infrastructure to deploy to an austere site or a ship. It is capable of conducting Close Air Support, Offensive and Defensive Counter Air, Air Interdiction, Assault Support Escort and Armed Reconnaissance as part of a Marine Air Ground Task Force, or in support of the Joint Force.”

Dunford stated that he has his full confidence in the F-35B’s ability to support Marines in combat, predicated on years of concurrent developmental testing and operational flying.

...

“The success of VMFA-121 is a reflection of the hard work and effort by the Marines in the squadron, those involved in the program over many years, and the support we have received from across the Department of the Navy, the Joint Program Office, our industry partners, and the Under Secretary of Defense. Achieving IOC has truly been a team effort,” concluded Dunford.

The U.S. Marine Corps has trained and qualified more than 50 Marine F-35B pilots and certified about 500 maintenance personnel to assume autonomous, organic-level maintenance support for the F-35B.
This was all done before the IOC of a "deficient" fighter, way before any FOC was achieved. India has a lot to learn from the US on how to nurture a domestic MIC.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 06 Feb 2016 09:12

X-posting from US mil thread to show how US armed forces support their domestic MIC:

Yeah. We know. The Indian armed forces are as bad.

JayS · Post by **JayS** » 06 Feb 2016 09:42

ramana wrote:This raw material business for aerospace is not a joke.

There are many intricacies in the way metal is made, forged, rolled and heat treated.

And risky to do substitution without knowing the design.

I think most of the people who do not actually work in Aerospace or even in mechanical design field do not really appreciate this point you made. Materials is Achilles' heel for many Aerospace projects. Let alone making new materials, it very difficult and expensive to even characterise existing alloys/materials properly. A lot of Aerospace materials are used with limited confidence material properties for years and years. To eliminate the uncertainties you need to assume ultra-conservative factors in design. If common man comes to know how much uncertainties are there in designing an aircraft, he might lose confidence in flying.

And a lot of those uncertainties arise from material related issues. Things are not hunky dori even in big OEMs. For example, I know of one case where one of the big three Engine OEMs wanted to buy material properties for one alloy from its tier-I supplier and just for that small transaction it took almost one year - deciding value of those properties, negotiations on the price etc. Now if HAL does the same what would be our reaction??

Karan M wrote:The Su-30 landing gear? Thats a pretty big thing. HAL etc don't do the least to showcase their achievements which is what leads folks like shri M2 to disparage them 24/7.

They are also working on increasing life of AL-31FP engines beyond 2000 hrs. The studies does at 1000hrs look promising. There was a presentation in AI-2015 about this. There are hundreds of such small small initiatives that HAL has taken over the years which go totally unnoticed.

I feel its unfair to blame HAL for import of raw materials' issue. Its a collective failure of the Indian Industry and govt policies and even the Services to some extent. That Hindu report was all about scoring brownie points rather than doing some real journalism on what is the real issue with HAL.

arun · Post by **arun** » 06 Feb 2016 10:28

X Posted.

I can't say that this news item comes as a surprise. Indeed it would have been surprising if the contrary was reported:

Made in India is costlier; joint development is mere purchase

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 06 Feb 2016 17:18

The higher cost of domestic manufacture of Rafales is a point that Dassault kept making over and over. IIRC, they cited a 2.7x labor unit cost multiple for HAL manufactured Rafales.

At that time, we assumed, that Dassault had a natural axe to grind favoring flyaway imports. I wonder if we now need to be less blinkered. The MIC seems to be set up to fail.

Josy Joseph is the guy who wrote in awe about the Akshardham terrorists giving namaaz in the temple. So not a favorite DDM 'reporter' of mine.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 11 Feb 2016 06:41

DRDO unveils LACSMI to boost Navy firepower.

It's named LACSMI, pronounced Laxmi — the Goddess of prosperity and wellbeing - and not without reason. It holds the potential to ensure that warships, tanks and other weapons platforms manufactured in the country can have exactly the right stealth capabilities to evade laser and infrared guided bombs and missiles.

The Laser Cross Section Measurement & Imaging System (LACSMI), developed by Laser Science and Technology Centre (LASTEC) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation was unveiled at the maritime exhibition at Visakhapatnam held as part of the International Fleet Review 2016.

Most of the Indian Navy's latest warships possess stealth capabilities but till now there was no way of measuring exactly how much is good enough to fool the laser seekers. It will be LACSMI's job to carry out imaging of ships as well as tanks and other military vehicles to find the 'hotspots' that give away their location to the enemy.

"This technology is in a nascent stage worldwide and no such system is reported in open literature or available inventory of any developed nation's armed forces. This was developed indigenously and is an excellent example of 'Make in India' efforts. Electro-optically guided precision strike munitions, commonly known as laser guided and infrared guided munitions have proved how lethal they are in recent conflicts around the globe. In laser-guided munitions, the target is illuminated by a laser designator and laser seeker head installed within the bomb or missile. They make use of laser-scattered radiation from the targets to command the weapon to strike with remarkable precision. Such weapons are widely used nowadays and pose an increasingly serious threat to strategic targets. In order to modify existing platforms to make them stealthier or design new generation stealth platforms, a system which can measure and record laser signature was required;" says Dr Ravindra Singh, project director at LASTEC.

Singh added: "It can provide online and offline laser signature measurement, generate laser 3D images, identify hotspots and automatically video track sea and airborne targets. It also has the capability to give motion compensated laser signature and 3D images, which is contemporary technology developed for the first time ever."

Madhuri Yadav, who has been working closely with Singh, says that the system was developed in 2014 but took a while to test and adjust. Now, it will be set-up on Dolphin Hill at the naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam.

It will constantly be sending out a radar beam to a distance of up to five km to pick up targets. The laser is totally eye safe.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 11 Feb 2016 06:42

IRDE develops 24X7 Cams.

Dehdradun-based Instruments Research & Development Establishment, one of the labs of DRDO, has designed and developed Stabilised Electro-Optical Sight (SEOS) – a two axis panoramic sight to attain surveillance capability at static and mobile conditions.

It is designed in such a way that it can be used in different platforms and operational requirements.It comprises laser range finder, CCD camera, thermal imager and automatic video tracker.

The Dehradun-based lab has developed two such systems, which can cover a radius of 40 km without sending any signals – a stealth type vision camera. This can be mounted on a tank, fast moving boat or a fighter aircraft.

VEM Tech, a Hyderabad-based firm, has been outsourced to manufacture the systems for supply to the Defence Ministry.

Terming it as a big achievement, IRDE Scientist Ram Saran told The Hindu on Monday that full-fledged production of the system would be useful for Akash new generation and Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile System (QRSAM).

He said while foreign vendors sell similar system for around Rs. 12 crore, under ‘Make in India’ programme, they could make it for about Rs.2 crore.

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 08:19

^^ a bit more info on this - taken from the IFR Village Maritime Exhibition in Visakhapatnam

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 08:20

Oh Sorry - How do I make the images appear a little smaller on the forum?

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 11 Feb 2016 21:26

Raghava, amazing image. Any more?

We finally have our own EO sight capability for Arjun class MBTs, SAMs etc. A stupendous step forward. I keenly remember how we struggled for ages trying to fix a Belgian sight on the Arjun and how we finally had the French help us out.

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 21:37

NSTL's AUV seems interesting especially since the IN plans to induct 10 of these according to the link below

http://www.financialexpress.com/article ... ter/60807/

While the Indian Navy is planning to indigenously source 10 such platforms mainly for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), mine mitigation and sensor deployment, the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) has come a long way in designing and building a batch of multiple AUVs to meet the Navy’s quality requirements.

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 21:51

There seem to be a lot of small initiatives going on to "indigenise" sub-systems in the equipment of the armed forces. From my humble perspective, it looks like there is an intent within MoD to spur indigenisation and Make in India from the grassroots level of both DRDO and the forces' technical branches.

Some of these efforts are really low hanging fruit but are delivering amazing benefits. If any of you have ever wondered like me, how is it that we still continue to operate some equipment way beyond their prescribed life, and sometimes with little or no support from OEM's, take a look at some of the pics below...

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 21:57

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 22:04

Some more ammunition being built by us ...

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 22:13

Indigenious battery developed by a Hyderabad based firm for the russki CET-65 Torpedo. ** Just as an aside the all knowing Wikipedia does not mention India as a user - Go figure...

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 22:19

Indigenised Cockpit Display Unit for Seaking Helicopters

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 22:36

Our very own 'Madras Rubber Factory' tyres on the MiG29K

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 22:54

Some other electrical and electronic components - either already indigenised or under trial ...

Aditya G · Post by **Aditya G** » 11 Feb 2016 23:38

[quote="raghava"]Some more ammunition being built by us ...

Many thanks.

What is the 105 mm MRCR? what role in the Navy? It must be for Naval Coast Batteries.

Aditya G · Post by **Aditya G** » 11 Feb 2016 23:45

BTW it is heartening to see Navy use Indian manufactured Kinetics. These are consumables by their nature and keep factories humming.

Very important to increase the indian "fight" component aboard our ships.

raghava · Post by **raghava** » 11 Feb 2016 23:52

MRCR refers to Medium Range Chaff Rocket of the indigenious Kavach Mod-II chaff decoy system. LRCR is the long range version. It is operational on INS Kamorta

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 12 Feb 2016 07:05

Good to see those pics Raghava ji. Nice work and thanks for posting these. The sheer cost differential between foreign OEM and Indian made is fantastic.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 12 Feb 2016 07:48

Great info pictures raghava. Thanks a lot.
Ramana

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 12 Feb 2016 07:49

Thanks Raghava. Any more on new systems from the DRDO stall/s?

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 12 Feb 2016 08:18

Good work raghava.

member_29089 · Post by **member_29089** » 12 Feb 2016 08:51

shiv wrote:Good work raghava.

Karan M wrote:Thanks Raghava.....

Ramana wrote:Great info pictures raghava

deejay wrote:Good to see those pics Raghava ji.

Although RaghavaJi deserves lots of thanks for showing the pictures, a few observations on the state of electronics from DRDO (nothing against Raghava)

DRDO seems to have pulled some ancient (1980s if not 1970s) printed circuit boards for a show-N-tell.. anyone who sees this displayed at a trade-show will walk away laughing at DRDO.

64K memory module? I think it used to exist before Jesus was born.

State of the through-hole components is also ancient.

The IF amp with a DB-9 and a BNC patch will immediately disqualify as any FCC Part 15 class A (unintentional radiator) compliance let alone a mil-grade equipment, wire harness on any of the PCB is gravely in violation of mil-grade electronics .. certainly not for avionics

Embarrassing. ...

DRDO should hire a pro event manager / booth designer and a pro marketing guy... if they really want to show-case their abilities.

tsarkar · Post by **tsarkar** » 12 Feb 2016 09:11

GunterH wrote:64K memory module? I think it used to exist before Jesus was born.

That is because the equipment designed to use the memory module used to exist before Jesus was born and is not compatible with newer stuff.

Look at the original memory module that mentions GEC. Probably its a component from Seaking or Harrier or equipment from similar vintage.

The OEM no longer manufactures that memory module, hence the need for indigenization.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 12 Feb 2016 09:25

^^
Correct, I know of products which still have 10MB of 'main storage' since 1996. It used to be revolutionary in 96 but now it's stone Age. People work around such h/w problems by writing more efficient software.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 12 Feb 2016 09:30

GunterH wrote:Although RaghavaJi deserves lots of thanks for showing the pictures, a few observations on the state of electronics from DRDO (nothing against Raghava)

DRDO seems to have pulled some ancient (1980s if not 1970s) printed circuit boards for a show-N-tell.. anyone who sees this displayed at a trade-show will walk away laughing at DRDO.

64K memory module? I think it used to exist before Jesus was born.

State of the through-hole components is also ancient.

The IF amp with a DB-9 and a BNC patch will immediately disqualify as any FCC Part 15 class A (unintentional radiator) compliance let alone a mil-grade equipment, wire harness on any of the PCB is gravely in violation of mil-grade electronics .. certainly not for avionics

Embarrassing. ...

DRDO should hire a pro event manager / booth designer and a pro marketing guy... if they really want to show-case their abilities.

These half baked rants on Indian agencies are getting downright ridiculous.

First, that is not the DRDO display clearly but from the Navy's indigenization wing.

Second, its a very credible effort because the aim is to replace like for like, with compatibility with existing equipment and obsolescence management, with parts that are no longer available from abroad or are very expensive. These parts are extensively tested for compatibility to whit.

In short, its something the Navy must and should do and they deserve every bit of support.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 12 Feb 2016 09:32

http://www.indiandefensenews.in/2016/02 ... y.html?m=1

DDM note about radar apart, interesting.

DRDO scientist Ravindra Singh talking about features of Laser Cross Section Measurement & Imaging System at Maritime Exhibition being organised at IFR Village in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: It's named LACSMI, pronounced Laxmi — the Goddess of prosperity and wellbeing - and not without reason. It holds the potential to ensure that warships, tanks and other weapons platforms manufactured in the country can have exactly the right stealth capabilities to evade laser and infrared guided bombs and missiles.

The Laser Cross Section Measurement & Imaging System (LACSMI), developed by Laser Science and Technology Centre (LASTEC) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation was unveiled at the maritime exhibition at Visakhapatnam held as part of the International Fleet Review 2016.

Most of the Indian Navy's latest warships possess stealth capabilities but till now there was no way of measuring exactly how much is good enough to fool the laser seekers. It will be LACSMI's job to carry out imaging of ships as well as tanks and other military vehicles to find the 'hotspots' that give away their location to the enemy.

"This technology is in a nascent stage worldwide and no such system is reported in open literature or available inventory of any developed nation's armed forces. This was developed indigenously and is an excellent example of 'Make in India' efforts. Electro-optically guided precision strike munitions, commonly known as laser guided and infrared guided munitions have proved how lethal they are in recent conflicts around the globe. In laser-guided munitions, the target is illuminated by a laser designator and laser seeker head installed within the bomb or missile. They make use of laser-scattered radiation from the targets to command the weapon to strike with remarkable precision. Such weapons are widely used nowadays and pose an increasingly serious threat to strategic targets. In order to modify existing platforms to make them stealthier or design new generation stealth platforms, a system which can measure and record laser signature was required;" says Dr Ravindra Singh, project director at LASTEC.

Singh added: "It can provide online and offline laser signature measurement, generate laser 3D images, identify hotspots and automatically video track sea and airborne targets. It also has the capability to give motion compensated laser signature and 3D images, which is contemporary technology developed for the first time ever."

Madhuri Yadav, who has been working closely with Singh, says that the system was developed in 2014 but took a while to test and adjust. Now, it will be set-up on Dolphin Hill at the naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam.

It will constantly be sending out a radar beam to a distance of up to five km to pick up targets. The laser is totally eye safe.