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

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

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

Post by VinodTK »

^^^^ Very impressive hope they a manufacturing the weapons in numbers and supplying them
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by suryag »

ARDE Pune has been making some of the most cutting edge small arms since atleast 1999. They all seem to be good in their firing ranges, but for some reason or the other nothing sees the light except for ToTed sticker items
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by ks_sachin »

Are you serious?
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by suryag »

yes, atleast witnessed one during 2001 for heliborne troops, the firearm was for troops to provide covering fire while slithering down and had the advantage of being used with one hand and had almost very little recoil. Lost track of it, engineers over there told me about some amazing wares they had developed.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by bala »

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approves third positive indigenisation list for DPSUs

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ ... 821782.ece
August 28, 2022

Defence Ministry has set specific timelines for import ban of the items, spanning a period from December 2023 to December 2028
In line with the effort to promote self-reliance in defence manufacturing and minimise imports by the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 28, 2022 approved the third Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) of 780 strategically important Line Replacement Units (LRUs), sub-systems and components with a timeline beyond which they will only be procured from the domestic industry. This is different from the three PILs announced for the armed forces.

“This list is in continuation to the two PILs of LRUs, sub-systems, assemblies, sub-assemblies and components that were published in December 2021 and March 2022. These lists contain 2,500 items which are already indigenised and 458 (351+107) items which will be indigenised within the given timelines,” a Ministry statement said. Out of 458, 167 items (1st PIL -163, 2nd PIL - 4) have been indigenised, so far, it stated.

The Ministry explained that indigenisation of these items will be taken up through different routes under ‘Make’ category of procurement procedure. ‘Make’ category aims to achieve self-reliance by involving greater participation of the Indian industry and projects involving design and development of equipment, systems, major platforms or upgrades thereof by the industry can be taken up under this category.

“The indigenous development of these LRUs, sub-systems and components will bolster the economy and reduce the import dependence of DPSUs,” the statement said adding, it will also help to harness the design capabilities of domestic defence industry and position India as a design leader in these technologies.

The DPSUs will soon float Expression of Interest (EoIs) and Request for Proposal (RFPs) in line with this. the statement added.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Karan M »

Yet, they wont increase the R&D Budget substantially. This Govt truly does baffling things at times. Their inability to understand that local technology can't prosper without funding is the most baffling of all.

Behaves like a mendicant with outstretched hands whenever conflict looms with purchasing decisions in every capital across the world. But otherwise, completely parsimonious with funds so that programs stretch on and on with delays because of funding shortages.

And then the lack of orders, piecemeal, parsimonious orders for local items, even whilst aiming for atmanirbharta. Oh well. At least the projects are continuing and trundling along, even if its a far cry from what we had originally expected. At least they arent lost in the morass of UPA corruption and some exist.

But it still makes me wonder as to how a Govt that is so strongly nationalist is almost entirely ignoring hard power whilst not realising the risk it's under. The PRC is adding airframes, ships and missile platforms like candy.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by bala »

On engine technology front we are lagging in every area. The Kaveri engine program should have been funded several orders of magnitude including flying test beds (instead of running to Russia every time). India requires to leapfrog in this area since it has many spinoffs. The marine engine is based on a good turbojet like GE and RR have mastered. The Kaveri engine could have spun of commercial jet engines, speaking of which, India needs to seriously consider a decent commercial jet program considering the volume of Aircrafts the private sector is purchasing. We are also lagging in engines for submarines (diesel, nuclear). Isro is also behind the curve on heavy lift rockets. Other areas like the army tank engine is yet to be mastered.

As India's GDP increases, there is no option but to take leadership role with vigor. This requires funding in R&D heavily, since just catching up is no more the benchmark, instead breakthroughs, quantum leap in innovation are the hallmarks of leadership. The GOI needs to 10x or 20x the R&D budget and have all the leading institutes like IITs/NITs/other Eng colleges work with industry and create products that are leading edge and beyond. Final year of college must be hands on project oriented rather than passing exams.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by kit »

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/air- ... tion-drive

The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 28 August another list of products that it wants local industry to produce in line with its long-running importsubstitution drive.

The MoD said the new list features 780 “strategically important” line replacement units, subsystems, and components used in manufacturing by state-owned defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs).

The list also provides schedules indicating the date from which the MoD to procure the parts from local industry. These schedules range from December 2023 December 2028.

The list includes parts fitted onto Arjun and T-90 main battle tanks, 88 and 66 highmobility vehicles, armoured recovery vehicles, Jaguar ground-attack aircraft, Su-30MKI fighter aircraft, several helicopter types, Tejas light combat aircraft, and Kalvari-class submarines.

More than 120 locally produced parts are required for the submarines, more than any other platform.
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Post by YashG »

Karan M wrote: At least they arent lost in the morass of UPA corruption and some exist.

But it still makes me wonder as to how a Govt that is so strongly nationalist is almost entirely ignoring hard power whilst not realising the risk it's under. The PRC is adding airframes, ships and missile platforms like candy.
For good reason UPA is history - this country needed someone like the present GoI to do course correction.

But to your second point about the nationalist government. The answer is simple - Political parties need to win election and they focus on what wins elections. Sadly focusing on national security doesn't win you elections. Extra LCH, LUH or Mk1A squadrons dont vote or win you elections. What good is a strong country if you lose power. Current GoI is nationalistic but not enough to prioritise nationalism over and above everything.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Cyrano »

I fail to see how funding domestic R&D and key mil programs can lead to losing national elections. Indians dont want a coalition, no other party is strong enough. If BJP doesn't screw up very badly, they can win again, especially with the economy rebounding strongly.
And a large majority of Indians will back the govt on increased defense & R&D spend given how they feel about Pak and Chinese aggression.

There is something else at play here, at cabinet level
* Negligence - No
* Apathy - No. Parriker wouldn't have been named if NaMo was apathetic, woudnt have changed
* Ignorance - Unlikely. The govt knows what our critical external dependencies are and the push and pull our suppliers do be it US, UK, Fr, Ru, SoKo or sundry
* Lack of confidence in domestic industry : Unlikely. The same govt backed vaccine producers and they delivered, other mfg sectors too have competent and committed companies.
* Lack of confidence in DRDO : Partially possible, despite many successes in several areas, they might have come after missing many deadlines and exceeding budgets.
* Incompetence/Stymieing of MoD babus : Possible.

My gut feel is its a combination of the last two which is preventing from someone like a Kalam emerging and convincing the Cabinet on what needs to be done, and committing that he can do it and getting what is needed to do it. Kalam was a fantastic salesman and media savvy, which he used to further his org, IGMDP and delivered for the nation. Plus MoD babus are not letting stuff put up to Cabinet playing ping-pong with the labs due to turf war, incompetence, compromised, corrupted etc.

I think this Govt can and will commit funds and pull strings if the right proposal by the right person lands on the table.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by V_Raman »

Regarding R&D - I dont think it is a question of budget. I think we dont have the ecosystem to spend a massive R&D budget. Hiring, funding companies, colleges etc. will be an issue.

Massa cultivated these companies over the last century while slowly increasing R&D budget over time with dedicated agencies in all wings of the military. EU has massive history here as well. This is not easy.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by YashG »

Cyrano wrote:I fail to see how funding domestic R&D and key mil programs can lead to losing national elections. Indians dont want a coalition, no other party is strong enough.

There is something else at play here, at cabinet level
* Negligence - No
* Apathy - No. Parriker wouldn't have been named if NaMo was apathetic, woudnt have changed
* Ignorance - Unlikely. The govt knows what our critical external dependencies are and the push and pull our suppliers do be it US, UK, Fr, Ru, SoKo or sundry
* Lack of confidence in domestic industry :
This GoI is not apathetic, not ignorant and has confidence in domestic industry. Thats not the issue.

Issue is setting our defence setup right will take structural changes, reforms, lots of time to cut through the babudom (like u pointed out) & pointing them into doing right things at tactical level & also LOTS & LOTS of stakeholder conversations - The stuff parrikar did out of his own volition - basically the grunt work. The effort required to do all of that is not being spent rn. As I said its not the top priority. Maybe 4-5th priority and that is reflected in going hsome way in the right direction (like asking HAL to build 15 LCHs) but not going far enough (like ordering 115 of them). OR passing 10K cr for Mk2 but not allocating more for research on stuff like Aero engines.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Jayram »

I see this repeated in the drone sector. Iran for example is supplying drones to Russia. Iran !!? Turkey has developed drones that are cutting edge. Where is India? Drones represented an unique case where the engine tech is not a showstopper but the rest of the package is more important and none of it requiring a base R&D going back to WW2. Yet we dont yet have a world beating product that our forces have inducted in numbers. Why?
Yes we have private players contributing and hopefully have a world beating or even world equivalent product soon but none today that are sought by other countries. Yes it a different matter that we may decide not to supply when the time comes but perhaps we need some public wins that are not in the lab phase.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by ks_sachin »

<self edited>
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Post by A Sharma »

Flagging of Ceremony of Air Defense Fire Control Radar

Alpha, the Indian Offset Partner (IOP) for IAI / MBT ISRAEL for production of Qty 66 Air Defence Fire Control Radar (ADFCR) has succesfully completed the delivery to customer on 01 August 2022.

Image
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Technology Focus Oct 2022

ELETROMAGNETIC RAILGUN
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Over 400 MoUs to be signed at DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar.

Over 400 memorandum of understandings (MoUs) are expected to be signed at the biggest ever DefExpo 2022, with 33 of them would be Gujarat specific and worth ₹5,500 crore, defence secretary Ajay Kumar said on Friday.

In the DefExpo at Gandhinagar which is starting from October 18 and will continue for five days, over 1,300 exhibitors including start-ups, from PSU and private industry, will display products that is aimed at boosting central government’s initiative of bringing in Atmanirbharta (self-reliance) in military sector.

Speaking to media ahead of the expo in Gandhinagar, Ajay Kumar stated over 400 MoUs will be signed this time which is double since 201 were done during the last DefExpo at Lucknow.

Apart from that, he stated ten States have also come up with their individual policies to attract manufacturers. So far, two defence corridors have also come up in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to realise the potential of the defence sector which is also visible since stocks of related companies are doing well in the market.

At the DefExpo, the government would be hosting two conclaves -- one for the Indian Ocean Region and the other for African nations. Keeping China in mind, the defence ministry is hosting Indian Ocean Region plus conclave and has invited 28 countries’ defence ministers to showcase India’s enhanced indigenous capacity development and deliberate to make the area safe and peaceful for trade and prosperity, special secretary defence Sanjay Jaju told the media.

With Africa being a large defence market India is trying to engage the continent nations through the conclave at the DefExpo. For the first time, there will be a special session for the first time on how to facilitate greater funding in the defence sector, defence secretary Kumar elaborated while adding there is no dearth of government funds. According to him, the defence budget has gone up by 35 per cent in the last three years which is based on the requirement of the forces.

Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), meanwhile, will display a wide range of 430 products encompassing the strategic and tactical weapon systems, defence equipment and technologies at the expo. The major theme for this year’s DRDO participation is based on 3D (DRDO, Designed and Developed) ecosphere which will highlight its strong linkages with both industry as well as academia, said the defence ministry.

Further, the ministry stressed that the DRDO will showcase the advancements in technologies made by its laboratories as well as its partnerships with the industry, in recent years while representing a high level of indigenousness in advanced and futuristic defence products and technologies that contribute towards Aatmanirbharta in defence.
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DefExpo 2022: Armoury solutions, pistols, assault rifles, combat UAVs to be displayed.

A complete armoury solution, 9mm pistols and 5.56 mm assault rifles, and next-generation haemostatic bandages are among the inventories of medium and small-scale enterprises and start-ups that will jostle for space among the products of biggies of defence manufacturing to catch the attention of participants at the DefExpo at Gandhinagar starting from Tuesday.

Almerio Defence and Aerospace LLP, offering a product range including portable earth cover magazines and pre-engineered portable modular and baffling firing range and containment box; and Raspian Enterprises’ 9mm pistols and 5.56 mm assault rifles; Axio Biosolutions Pvt Limited that has come up with 100 per cent Chitosan shell dressing for soldiers are part of 25 domestic defence manufacturing companies whose names Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) has shared with the Defence Ministry for featuring at the five-day DefExpo.

These displays would be part of “Bandhan” which is being organised to forge partnerships between companies and for showcasing start-ups and MSME’s cutting-edge tech solutions for the future battlefield.

Over 400 MOUs will be announced at the DefExpo to push Atmanirbhartha in the defence sector and try and make the products globally competitive quality-wise, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar had said.

Novel products
The portable firing range is a secure modular range ready for live firing. It is a pre-engineered, portable, modular firing range extendable up to 300 metres that comprises a robust baffle system, HEPA filtration, HVAC system, bulletproof exteriors, and High-quality ceiling guards, Mrinal Tayal, Co-founder and director of the company told businessline.

Other products in the weapon management category is portable Earth Covered Magazines (ECMs), which Tayal claims is different from the existing RCC magazines and is much needed for a longer shelf life of ammunition.

The portable ECMs are low on maintenance and custom manufactured to fit specific military munitions storage applications, she stated while listing out its features. Almerio Defence and Aerospace LLP, she said is managed by women entrepreneurs which are rare in the defence industry.

In the unmanned systems which many of the leading global as well as domestic companies are vying given that they are being dubbed as futuristic warfare tools, Kadet Defence Systems Pvt Ltd is offering multi-role high-speed jet-powered combat UAV having stealth characteristics with range greater than 300 km and ability fly at speeds of 500 km/hr with a payload of up to 25kg, product information reveals.

Significant usages include loitering munitions, swarming, aerial decoys and air defence swarm-based training, said SIDM sources.

AVNL MoU
One of the relatively big players, Ashok Leyland, will be signing MOUs with defence PSU Armoured Vehicles Nigam Ltd (AVNL) for supply of mobility kits for Mine Protected Vehicle (MPV) 6x6. The Company has been doing for MPV 4x4.

"While the Vehicle Factory Jabalpur which comes under AVNL manufactures the structure, the mobility solution which includes engines of the MPV 6x6 will be supplied by us," stated Col Rajneesh Kacker (Retired), Head Defence Marketing, Sales & After Marketing of Ashok Leyland.

In another MOU, Ashok Leyland Defence Systems Ltd will supply transmission systems for T-72 and T-90 tanks of the Russian origin, he said.
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Bharat Forge, General Atomics to collaborate for li-ion battery systems.

Bharat forge as signed a collaboration deal with American technological giant General Atomics for the creation of lithium-ion battery systems for the Indian Navy.

According to Bharat Forge, the two parties have also decided to collaborate on permanent magnet motors.

Submarines among other naval units employ lithium-ion battery technology.

The agreement was signed in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on the sidelines of the DefExpo. The Electromagnetic Systems Group (GA-EMS) of General Atomics and Bharat Forge will work together in accordance with the parameters of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop Lithium-Ion battery systems for naval platforms for the Indian Navy.

Baba Kalyani, Chairman Kalyani Group said, “General Atomics does Li-Ion battery solutions for naval platforms/submarines and and our partnership with General Atomics is a firm step in the direction to develop Make-in-India solutions for the Indian Navy and setting up a strong defence technology and manufacturing vertical within India.”

Scott Forney, President of GA-EMS said his company is looking forward to working with Bharat Forge “We are committed to working with companies like Bharat Forge, whose reputation for excellence and dedication to quality is synergistic with ours, as we continue to deliver technology innovations and cutting-edge systems for undersea and surface platforms,” he added.
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16 Licensing Agreements for Transfer of Technology for 10 indigenous technologies handed over to 13 industries by DRDO during ‘Bandhan’ ceremony of DefExpo 2022

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) handed over 16 Licensing Agreements for Transfer of Technology (LAToT) for 10 DRDO-developed technologies to 13 industries during the ‘Bandhan’ ceremony of the 12th DefExpo in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on October 20, 2022. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh presided over the ceremony, which saw a total of 451 Memoranda of Understanding, Transfer of Technology agreements and Product Launches. Of the 451, there were 345 MoUs, 42 Major Announcements, 46 Product Launches and 18 ToTs. The contribution of Gujarat was 28 MoUs and one Product Launch. It envisages investment worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Indian Air Force and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited concluded a contract for 70 HTT-40 indigenous trainer aircraft worth Rs 6,800 crore.

The technologies transferred by DRDO are from the area of electronics, laser technology, armaments, material science, combat vehicles, naval systems and sensors etc. The products include Handheld Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Unexploded Ordnance Handling Robot (UXOR), Semi-Solid Metal (SSM) Processing Technology for Aluminum Alloys, High Oxidative and Thermal Stability Oil (DMS Hots Oil-I), Nuclear Shielding Pads for Combat Vehicles, 120mm Tandem Warhead System for Anti-Tank Application, High Energy Material (TNSTAD), Laser-Based End Game Fuze, Multi-kW Laser Beam Directing Optical Channel (BDOC), SHAKTI EW System. These high-technology products will provide impetus to ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ drive of the Government and boost the defence manufacturing sector through self-reliance, besides enhancing the operational capabilities of the Armed Forces.

Gujarat Governor Shri Acharya Devvrat, Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Ajay Bhatt, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and OSD, Department of Defence Shri Giridhar Aramane were among those who attended the ceremony.
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Make in India: GE expands commercial aircraft engine components manufacturing with Tatas.

In a major boost to the “make in India” programme, US aircraft engine major GE Aerospace has extended its manufacturing agreement with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) for aircraft engine components under a multi-year contract valued at over $1 billion. Parts for LEAP engines, that power the best-selling Airbus A320neo and now catching up Boeing 737 MAX, will now be made on a larger scale at the Tata Centre of Excellence for Aero Engines in Hyderabad and shipped to GE’s global engine manufacturing factories.

Mike Kauffman, GE Aerospace VP & GM (sourcing), told TOI Friday: “We have been on a progressive path with (GE’s 13 supply chain partners in
India) to grow their technical competence to the point they can take the next step. The Tatas have achieved a level of manufacturing that puts
them among the best component supply makers in the world. We are discussing the next level of manufacturing technically challenging components here (with Tatas).”


As of now supply chain partners in India make stationary or non-moving engine parts. GE is now in talks with Tatas to start manufacturing moving parts that require cutting edge tech and are crucial from safety perspective.

The Tata Centre of Excellence for Aero Engines was established in 2018 to manufacture CFM International LEAP engine components in India. This is an option for airlines using the best-selling Airbus A320neo, with LEAP engines competing with Pratt & Whitney. IndiGo, the world’s largest A320 customer, has so far ordered hundreds of engines from both the companies.

LEAP is the only engine used on the Boeing 737 MAX, that are currently in the fleets of SpiceJet and Akasa Air. GE has an MRO with Air India in Nagpur.

Disruption of supply chain — that started with Covid in early 2020 and could not ease as China still remain largely closed — has led to massive delays in engine/component deliveries to both Airbus and airlines.

Speaking about supply chain constraints globally, Kauffman said: “We are not back to 2019 production levels. The physical infra is there, it’s the soft capacity like skilled labour that is yet to get back to (2019 levels). In many places it has been very challenging to get skilled labour back. In some cases the leap time to train people when we and our suppliers can find them is many months. Getting materials is an issue too. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has dislocated a number of material supplies and put cost pressure on the system. (Though) we are seeing sequential improvement in (the situation), we wish it were moving much faster than it is.”

TASL MD & CEO Sukaran Singh said: “TASL has evolved as the supplier of choice for global aerospace and defence industry.

We continue to invest in growing the aerospace skill base, technology, and production capability in the country. The Tata Centre of Excellence for Aero Engines has been set up as the state-of-the-art modern shop for complex aero-engine manufacturing for global customers. As a leading commercial engine manufacturer, GE has helped us develop critical aeroengine manufacturing processes here in India with support from GE’s engineering team.”
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Cyrano »

Some time back we discussed getting high level experts from Russian sphere to accelerate mil tech in India.
The example below shows such opportunities exist, but they aren't being tapped by India.
AERONAUTICS - DEFENSE

Destinus, the start-up that dreams of testing hypersonic flight in Rochefort

Destinus, a start-up founded by Russian physicist Mikhail Kokorich to develop a hydrogen-powered hypersonic aircraft, would like to establish itself further in France, in particular to test its third prototype at Rochefort airport.

By
Anne Bauer

Posted Nov 3, 2022, 7:04 a.m.

Serial entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich, who created Destinus last year in hopes of developing hydrogen-powered hypersonic flights, has just joined his team Michel Friedling. A nice prize of war knowing that he was the first general of the French Air Force to take the head of the Space Command (CDE) created in 2018 by the former Minister of the Armies, Florence Parly.
Replaced on July 1 by General Philippe Adam, Michel Friedling, who left the army, said he wanted to serve the Swiss start-up out of admiration for Mikhail Kokorich and out of conviction. "France, which has missed many technological turns, cannot remain a spectator in the face of the challenge of low-carbon hypersonic aviation", he declared to "Echos".

The general thus joins the strategic committee of Destinus, where Pedro Duque, the former astronaut and Spanish Minister of Science, and Philipp Rösler, former German Vice-Chancellor and Minister of the Economy also sit. He will be the advocate in France of the dream of the Russian physicist: "to travel at hypersonic speed to reach all points of the globe in less than two hours".

Destinus wants to count in France

In the aerospace industry, Mikhail Kokorich has already acquired a solid reputation. His first start-up, Dauria Aerospace, was created in Russia, but then the gifted man launched Astro Digital, Helios Wire and Momentus in the United States . If it weren't for the distrust of the US Department of Defense towards him because of his Russian nationality, he would still be at the head of Momentus, which was floated on the stock market last year on the basis of a valuation of half a billion dollars.

But having been unable to obtain the renewal of his green card, the entrepreneur joined Switzerland in early 2021, where he created Destinus. American investors in his former companies followed him, which enabled him to raise some $35 million, more than half of which from American funds and the rest mainly from German and Swiss funds.

Destinus now wants to make itself better known in France. Mikhail Kokorich declares to “Les Echos” that he would like to become a French resident and to integrate more into the country which he considers to be the best equipped in terms of aeronautics. Joined by a growing number of exiled Russian engineers, he says he spends two hours a day studying French.

Third prototype under construction
To feed its dreams of a hydrogen rocket plane , capable of flying at Mach 5, Destinus took the first steps. "To design such a vessel, you have to find an almost impossible design in order to combine low-speed flight stability and a hypersonic optimum, all while integrating a hydrogen fuel fifteen times lighter than kerosene", explains the founder, showing plane projects whose shape, between a rocket and a balloon, is reminiscent of that of penguins.
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Post by Cyrano »

Destinus prototype flight
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Testing and evaluation facility for sonar systems for Indian Navy launched by DRDO.
Giving impetus to the vision of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and the 'Make in India' initiative, a testing and evaluation facility for sonar systems to be used by the Indian Navy has been launched by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, an official statement said on Monday. It is a state-of-the-art system developed for use by the Navy onboard various platforms, including ships, submarines and helicopters, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

"Giving impetus to the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and 'Make in India' commitment, the DRDO launched Hull Module of Submersible Platform for Acoustic
Characterisation & Evaluation (SPACE) facility at Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi, recently," it said.

The SPACE facility is based on the concept design and requirements projected by NPOL and has been constructed by L&T Shipbuilding, Chennai, it said.

This will be mainly utilised for evaluating sonar systems, allowing for quick deployment and easy recovery of scientific packages such as sensors and transducers, it said.

The SPACE is one-of-a-kind facility in the world. The uniqueness of this facility lies in the specially designed submersible platform, which can be lowered up to depths of 100 metres using a series of synchronously operated winches, the statement said.

The design and construction of the platform meet all the statutory needs of Indian Register of Shipping and the vessel classifying authority and strictly adhere to the inspection and registration criteria as per Kerala Inland Vessel Rules, it said.
Vips
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Vips »

Sasmos To Supply For Boeing's P-8A.

In yet another boost to the Indian defence and industrial ecosystem, Bengaluru-based firm Sasmos has reportedly received a new contract. As per a report in the Economic Times, this contract is to provide Boeing with 6,600 wiring harnesses for the next 16 United States’ Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft.

Wiring harnesses include a number of electrical wires and connection elements to transmit signals/electric power though aircraft, serving an instrumental role in communications and power transmission, ET stated.

Sasmos’ joint venture (JV) with Fokker Elmo will produce the wiring harnesses for Boeing, as per the report. Fokker Elmo, based out of Pune, is under the UK company GKN Aerospace, which is a leading supplier in the aerospace industry.

Since 2016, the Sasmos-Fokker Elmo has been producing electrical wiring interconnection systems for the aerospace industry, as well as wire harnesses for P-8As and P-8Is, ET stated. The P-8Is are part of the P-8 Poseidon family, with the ‘I’ referring to India for its India-specific modifications. The Indian and US Navy’s deploy the Poseidon. As an extremely popular ISR platform, its other users include the UK, Australian and Norwegian Air Forces as well as the Korean and German Navies, the ET report added.

According to HG Chandrashekar, Sasmos Het Technologies chairman, the P-8A is a symbol of Sasmos’ quality-driven vision, excellence in design and the latest solutions in the global aerospace and defence field, as per ET.

As per the Economic Times, Ashwani Bhargava, Boeing India’s senior director (supply chain management), said, “Our partnership with Sasmos JV is a testimony of our commitment to building a global supply base, as it brings more value to our customers. We believe that building capabilities indigenously will drive innovation and contribute to the growth of the Indian aerospace and defence industry”

Sasmos has also been involved with Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet; in 2020 it provided the Super Hornet’s 1,000 electrical panel assembly, reported The Week. The Super Horner is an aircraft carrier-based fighter jet still used by the US Navy which is still operational despite its first combat flight coming during the American bombing of Libya in 1986.

Following the Tata-Boeing deal to manufacture the C-295 transport aircraft, Sasmos’ producing electrical harnesses for Boeing is another step in the right direction towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of defence indigenisation and self-reliance.
souravB
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by souravB »

There is a quite frank assessment from VAdm. Shekhar Sinha on what ails Indian defense procurement with a few anecdotes.
The nexus between services, politicians & Babus is a tough nut to crack.



Give a dekko to VAdm parts. Rest of the participants are meh.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by fanne »

i dont want to listen to a known dalla. Can you please put the gist of it.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by fanne »

i dont want to listen to a known dalla (and the comment is not against the Vadm). Can you please put the gist of it.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by csaurabh »

Hey guys just a question I've been thinking about for quite some time. Over the last 2 years, I've been seeing an endless stream of articles from GE, Rolls Royce , Dassault, Siemens , and all such kinds of companies on how they want to participate in India's 'atma-nirbhar Bharat' program and 'help' make India 'atma-Nirbhar'. These are typically written by the India office people of the company and they keep harping on about how they are expanding their operations within India and contributing to 'global supply chain'. Am I missing something here or do they really not know what 'atma-Nirbhar Bharat' means? or they have some different understanding of 'atma-Nirbhar Bharat' ?
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Dilbu »

May be they are referring to 'Make in India' instead of 'Atma Nirbhar'.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by SSridhar »

Twitter :
Vayu Aerospace
And more BEL news

Bharat Electronics Ltd signed an LAToT with Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS), a DRDO lab, for manufacturing of Multi kW Beam Directed Optical Channel.

The Multi-kilo Watt Beam Directing Optical Channel is core of any Laser DEW system.

Beam Directing Optical Channel is a complex system of precisely placed lenses and mirrors capable of handling high power laser. It is responsible for delivering very accurate, focused and stabilised laser beam on to the target
High time that we give impetus to such stuff. We cannot always employ the ASAT especially when 100s of satellites are involved. Space is the frontier that has heated up tremendously with China likely to deploy shortly a co-orbital DEW with chemical-laser weapon of 5 Tons with 2.5 Tons of chemicals for laser use (1 Megawatt Laser for 100 seconds). Ground-based radar would provide tracking information to space-based laser system which will use EO sensors to get a very accurate tracking followed by firing the space-based laser. China is also claiming to deploy next year, a ground-based DEW laser with 1 Petawatt capacity.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by rrao »

In the 80s and 90s while in college we used to see locally manufactured components from BEL,ECIL ,CEL and some private firms like CDIL , Philips etc .There used to be one good company called VITROC in Himachal Pradesh which used to make metal film resistors of good quality which went into lockout after some time...Now if we see ,forget about ICs, we import even chip resistors, chip capacitors, chip inductors , connectors, optical ,motion control, low end to high end processors, linear ,logic ics, voltage regulators, power semiconductors,RF and microwave components from across the Himalayas, from USA and EU... Is our industry complex is not ashamed of it? At least things were better in the eighties...some indigenous companies were involved in component manufacturing...in Hyderabad ppl have opened up silicon valley,fabcity ...with all bombastic names...all they did is make plots and sell them to public at bloated up prices....Govts either state or center have no vision and planning to setup hardware parks like in shenzen for manufacturing components to meet Indian aerospace and defence industry ....in India :shock: one has to import everything from digikey,mouser,element14 etc.... :evil:
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by YashG »

Problem for manufacturing in India is not the tech / know-how or even willingness. Its that manufacturing vast majority of items is no longer competitive in India. So metal film resistors you're talking about are now most likely no longer economic competitively.

Example: We dont produce penicillin in India. Some companies who did are closed. Why? Cz China imported penicillin is cheaper. Why? Reason #1 Raw materials are cheaper for API prod. plants in China #2 They are investing & manufacturing at scale.

For most things #2 if even achievable - it will still not be able to mitigate away #1 since #1 is result of large scale industrial base ( something that specific interventions cant achieve).
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Cyrano »

If Govt procurement mandates "Made in India ONLY" then China or someone else can make something cheaper becomes irrelevant. India has the size to generate economies of scale and eventually bring the price down to a reasonable level. I believe this is happening, albeit slowly... very slowly.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by YashG »

A lot of sectors that provide for mil-tech production are dependent upon civilian orders as well. "Metal Film Resistors" kind of stuff will be manufactured for both civilian and miltech sector. For a lot of downstream vendors - it is impossible to sustain on miltech orders only. BEL also doesnt - it even makes metro coaches. Miltech orders are high value, sporadic and low quantity.

So 'Made in India' will not work. Because companies will have to depend on pvt sector demand. That demand cant be dictated 'made in india'. Your Industry lobbies like CII or FICCI will lobby and get any import duties removed.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Cyrano »

I agree saar, that's why I said Govt, meaning all Govt procurement, not just for forces. Might not be enough for all sectors but we need to start somewhere.
We were importing railway wagon wheels from Ukraine, now we started making in desh.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by YashG »

Cyrano wrote:I agree saar, that's why I said Govt, meaning all Govt procurement, not just for forces. Might not be enough for all sectors but we need to start somewhere.
We were importing railway wagon wheels from Ukraine, now we started making in desh.
Yes that should work - Govt Procurement.

Its unfortunte the ukraine import was only happening because officials could get their paan masala. Ukn is a nice place to get paan masala over any deal.
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