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

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 15 Sep 2015 03:44

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/ ... 025000.ece

NEW DELHI: In a move that could change India’s defence acquisition process, government plans to enter into “strategic partnership” with domestic private firms in six critical areas, replacing the system of awarding contracts to lowest bidder.

Manohar Parrikar led defence ministry has set up a high powered committee under the chairmanship of former DRDO chief V K Aatre to recommend guidelines for selecting Indian private firms for strategic partnership under ‘Make In India’ initiative in the six areas which include submarines, aircraft and missiles. “Instead of asking for tendering and all those things, a process of selecting a right partner is chosen. If you select through L1 (lowest bidder), you may end up with someone who is not capable. My aspect of success is capability of that partner,” Parrikar told reporters here on the sidelines of a FICCI organised seminar. He made it clear that there won’t be any repetition of the entity. “There won’t be repetition. If an X group has been taken in as a strategic partner in one segment, it will not be considered for another segment. It can participate in partnership for other products”. Explaining the concept, Parrikar gave the example of state-run Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) which is building six Scorpene submarines and is also vying for a contract for additional six convention submarines worth over Rs 60,000 crore.

“It is obvious if you have an MDL which has the capacity, you can have one private sector (entity). You cannot have 10 private sectors (entities) or two private sector (entities) because obviously you cannot go on buying 100 submarines. The number is 30 as per Cabinet Committee on Security and maybe we will go for more. Basically, you need one or two shipyards,” he said.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 15 Sep 2015 03:45

Raksha Udyog Ratna in other words. HAL, BDL monopoly to be broken?
Interesting to see while the media touts are as usual busy trying to target DRDO for obvious reasons, the MOD is actually working with DRDO to drive these changes.

http://www.business-standard.com/articl ... 627_1.html

Task force to select firms for strategic partnerships: Parrikar

IANS | New Delhi September 12, 2015 Last Updated at 20:16 IST

The defence ministry has formed a task force to select private firms as strategic partners in six areas of defence manufacturing under the 'Make in India' drive, which means replacement of the usual system of issuing tenders and selecting the lowest bidder.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, speaking on the sidelines of a seminar at industrial chamber Ficci, said the high-level task force was constituted earlier this week under the chairmanship of former Defence Research and Development Organisation chief V.K. Aatre and it will present its first report in three weeks.

"The sectors will include manufacturing of submarines, fighter aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, missiles, and electronic surveillance equipment," Parrikar told reporters.

Parrikar said one or two private players would be selected for each sector, so the overall number of players may not exceed a dozen.

"The task force will have experts from all fields. They will develop a policy for selecting suitable partners for these projects," he said.

The minister said the normal process of issuing tenders takes longer, and there are chances that those selected after the process may not be able to meet the requirements.

"Instead of asking for tendering and all those things, a process of selecting a right partner is chosen. If you select through L1 (lowest bidder), you may end up with someone who is not capable. My aspect of success is capability of that partner," Parrikar said.

The minister also said there would not be any repetition of players in the six strategic manufacturing areas.

"There won't be repetition. If an X group has been taken in as a strategic partner in one segment, it will not be considered for another segment. It can participate in partnership for other products."

"In three weeks they will come with first report... on formulating the guidelines," he added.

These projects which come under the scope of the panel include aircraft, warships, armoured fighting vehicles, complex missile systems, command and control networks and critical materials.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 15 Sep 2015 03:49

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/defence- ... al-1214821

Bengaluru: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today launched the IAF-HAL e-Portal, stated to be the first inter organisation information sharing system (IOIS) under Digital India initiative between a Defence service organisation and a Defence PSU.

Welcoming the initiative, Mr Parrikar said he hoped that the e-portal will synergise the competencies of Indian Air Force and HAL.

He stressed the need to take utmost care while managing the portal, which provides authentic information to the stakeholders involved, besides saving considerable time and eliminating the need for frequent joint meetings at various levels, a HAL release said.

HAL Chairman and Managing Director T Suvarna Raju said the customer centric portal at the company corporate office in Bengaluru would go a long way in leveraging the benefits of information sharing in real time.

It would also enable the visibility of HAL rotable repair milestones and provide information on status of supply against Aircraft on Ground (AoG), tasks involved, he added.

Air Marshal SBP Sinha, Deputy Chief of Air Staff, said the ePortal will facilitate secure information sharing between IAF and HAL for better coordination, improved transparency and faster decision making.

The e-portal will optimise long-term material planning and reduce the repair and overhaul cycle time and reduce time for finalisation of tasking and fixed price quotation (FPQ) processes. The ePortal will ensure reduction in turnaround time and better serviceability of all IAF platforms supported by HAL, the release said.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 15 Sep 2015 04:02

http://www.techworm.net/2015/09/linux-b ... nment.html

Developed by C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing), a highly improved version of BOSS (Bharat Operating System Solutions) will be revealed and discussed in an internal meeting in union home ministry this week.

During the past three months of trial, BOSS has successfully fended itself from all kinds of attacks, including vicious attacks planted by the Indian army, who was given the task to attack it to test its vulnerability status.

“It answers government’s need have a fully secure network. Fresh codes unique to the system have been written for the OS. Its source code that makes it safe and secure will have to be guarded at all cost,” sources said.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Sep 2015 07:20

boeing and other biggies have this e-portal thing for their clients. IAF might have got a taste for it with the c130 purchase initially. all good I say

JayS · Post by **JayS** » 15 Sep 2015 22:46

Sourav Jha had an online open interaction on Reddit. Some good titbits about geo-political, energy and defence stuff. I am posting here because the one thing that caught eye that he mentioned. DRDO has graduated to 2nd gen SCBs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments ... /?sort=old

Hopefully they will be able to incorporate this tech in next Kaveri versions.

srai · Post by **srai** » 16 Sep 2015 03:48

^^^

Apparently those SCBs are more advanced than those supplied by Russians to HAL under ToT for Su-30MKI engines.

JayS · Post by **JayS** » 16 Sep 2015 12:05

srai wrote:^^^

Apparently those SCBs are more advanced than those supplied by Russians to HAL under ToT for Su-30MKI engines.

I can believe that easily. I know at least that the AL31FP blades are not the state-of-the-art. Single passage cooling channels only IIRC. And I think the ones made by DRDO are multi pass cooling channel blades.

I was told by someone who had worked there in HAL Koraput that the people who made SCBs for Al-31FP cannot make SCBs for anything else e.g. Kaveri, (I guess they were asked for that but I am not too sure about this part). The ToT for SCB is basically only screw-driver-giri.

Anyways I was searching on Google about SCB and saw one paper casually from some Chinese agency claiming they have made 2nd Gen SCBs. Also saw Pictures of Kaveri 1st stage turbine blades using this SCB tech posted on Tarmak007 blog. Not sure if GTRE has already tested those blades in Kaveri already.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 16 Sep 2015 12:14

The issue is about building in bulk and cost effectively

member_28108 · Post by **member_28108** » 16 Sep 2015 12:37

In one exhibition they told thatl the issue is not technology -they have got that but getting someone to manufacture it in the quantities they need. Too mall for commercial entities. I can give an example from my sphere. We use Tygon tubing for the heart lung machine and import them. I asked why we can't manufacture it here. It seems Dupont extruded the entire world's requirement in half a day in a year so no one will be interested!

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 16 Sep 2015 12:38

If you read the Ind. Exp. report carefully and study the chart,it shows the long delays,av. (4-5 years) of all major projects,including one where the current DRDO head is the chief,and that even after approx. 5500cr being already spent,the LCA Mk-2 is 4-5 years late.

The action of the GOI is excellent,long overdue,making the project heads accountable after aeons of non-accountability.I was discussing the same with a couple of "multi-starred" gents,who said that also involving the pvt. sector would break the monopoly of the lackadaisical DPSUs. Apparently,even the NSAB had given "Snake-oil" Singh a detailed plan as to reorganise and improve the functioning of the DRDO.a financial review,etc., but zero happened. Snake-oil and the Saint turned devil,AKA have much to account for ,for their dereliction of duty.Let's hop[e that this monthly "accounting"

shaun · Post by **shaun** » 16 Sep 2015 13:04

^^ Philip saab , how singh went into become snake-oil singh , would you please care to explain ..sounds funny

maitya · Post by **maitya** » 16 Sep 2015 13:36

nileshjr wrote:
srai wrote:^^^

Apparently those SCBs are more advanced than those supplied by Russians to HAL under ToT for Su-30MKI engines.
I can believe that easily. I know at least that the AL31FP blades are not the state-of-the-art. Single passage cooling channels only IIRC. And I think the ones made by DRDO are multi pass cooling channel blades.

I was told by someone who had worked there in HAL Koraput that the people who made SCBs for Al-31FP cannot make SCBs for anything else e.g. Kaveri, (I guess they were asked for that but I am not too sure about this part). The ToT for SCB is basically only screw-driver-giri.

Anyways I was searching on Google about SCB and saw one paper casually from some Chinese agency claiming they have made 2nd Gen SCBs. Also saw Pictures of Kaveri 1st stage turbine blades using this SCB tech posted on Tarmak007 blog. Not sure if GTRE has already tested those blades in Kaveri already.

Nileshjrji, here's a small write-up on various SC Gens and their applicability vis-a-vis Kabini/Kaveri etc. It also dwells on, in subsequent posts, how monotonic increase of TeT, without corresponding increase in OPR, can in fact be detrimental to overall performance parameters etc.

It also talks about material/fabrication tech difficulties in graduating from 2nd Gen (3% of Re) to 3rd Gen (5-6% Re) SCB technology etc ... and how Ru as an element becomes an integral part of the alloy "mixture" etc.

There was also another post of mine (which I'm unable to find now) which talked about the relationship (indirect) between SC vs DS vs Equi-axed blade metallurgical tech and the thin-walled cooling-channel fabrication etc.
To put it at a very very high level, it's one thing to do a paper-design a multi-channel cooling channel etc it's quite another to translate it to actual production engineering. For e.g. until very recently we were importing (from Snecma IIRC) the ceramic-molds for the current DS Kaveri/Kabini Turbine blades.

And finally, pls do note there's not much "theoretical" manufacturing-technology diff between vacuum-isothermal forging etc between DS and that of SC blades (though the temperature gradients in the furnaces doubles - from about 36 to 72 deg C/cm or thereabouts, which is a tech in itself).

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 18 Sep 2015 18:19

arun wrote:
Bleeding in Siachen: Pakistan losing 30 soldiers a year on highest battlefield

The difference in casualties between the two nations is attributed by the Army on better equipment, resources, training and medical facilities on the Indian side. Indian Army officers who have served on the glacier say that a strictly followed acclimatization procedure, along with standard operating procedures that are implemented sternly have brought down casualties. The laying down of a kerosene line on the glacier, as well as the procurement of pre fabricated huts and better clothing has redu ..

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... aign=cppst

Suresh S · Post by **Suresh S** » 20 Sep 2015 06:17

shivji please start a thread on Netaji subhas Chandra Bose. Netaji and swami vivekanda are the central figures who have inspired my life,s journey and I am sure many millions of patriotic Indians. This is OT but hope you will do it. The time has finally arrived when hopefully the truth comes out about his death.
It is an extremely emotional subject that fake people of this country have ben treated as heroes while the real heroes have been forgotten.if India as a country is to move forward we must know where we came from. Therefore the truth about the central figure that actually gave us independence must come out.

Jai Hind

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 20 Sep 2015 06:30

snahata wrote:shivji please start a thread on Netaji subhas Chandra Bose. Netaji and swami vivekanda are the central figures who have inspired my life,s journey and I am sure many millions of patriotic Indians. This is OT but hope you will do it. The time has finally arrived when hopefully the truth comes out about his death.
It is an extremely emotional subject that fake people of this country have ben treated as heroes while the real heroes have been forgotten.if India as a country is to move forward we must know where we came from. Therefore the truth about the central figure that actually gave us independence must come out.

Jai Hind

snahata I wrong thread to discuss this. I am now aam abdul like anyone else. Please post this request on forum feedback in burqa forum - added later - there is already a thread there

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 22 Sep 2015 21:47

Saurav Jha ‏@SJha1618 10h10 hours ago New Delhi, Delhi

Here is a list of technologies transferred to Indian industry by DRDO.

http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/English/lis ... logies.pdf

Gyan · Post by **Gyan** » 23 Sep 2015 00:01

Re Maityaji

Can you have a look at technology challenges facing HAL as it tries to develop other engines like 8kn, 1200kw turboshaft, 25 kn etc. Have we developed our technology base with Kaveri enough to make it easy or they are again going to be pie in sky.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 23 Sep 2015 01:32

Austin wrote:Saurav Jha ‏@SJha1618 10h10 hours ago New Delhi, Delhi

Here is a list of technologies transferred to Indian industry by DRDO.

http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/English/lis ... logies.pdf

Very impressive list! There must be a link to DRDO patents, could you point one out?

srai · Post by **srai** » 23 Sep 2015 06:09

Austin wrote:Saurav Jha ‏@SJha1618 10h10 hours ago New Delhi, Delhi

Here is a list of technologies transferred to Indian industry by DRDO.

http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/English/lis ... logies.pdf

Although people tend to see a high profile weapon system Arjun/LCA--akin to Tiger as a symbol of conservation efforts--as barometer of indigenization, people miss out "unsexy" small things that are necessary for overall efforts, especially those that are consumed in high volumes.

Prem Kumar · Post by **Prem Kumar** » 23 Sep 2015 22:11

Made-in-Jaipur armoured anti-terrorist vehicle to guard Parliament

Nice "Make in India" development!! Manufactured by Jeet & Jeet Glass and Chemical Ltd.

Here is a video explaining it more. Says the armored steel is sourced from Germany. I am assuming the circular black objects in the middle of the windows are the firing ports

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 24 Sep 2015 17:15

DRDO chief raises red flag over fund and manpower crunch.

DRDO chief S Christopher raised a red flag on Wednesday saying DRDO lacked funds for critical defence projects and also rued the government’s cold shoulder in catering to manpower shortage in the organisation.

The eminent scientist was picked up by the Modi government as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief in May, four months after the unceremonious exit of Avinash Chander who was terminated 15 months before his contract was to end.

On the occasion of the the 39th Directors’Conference of DRDO here, Christopher said that there was a need for augmentation of scientific manpower and a mere 5-6% of defence budget for R&D was inadequate to meet the aspirations of India's defence needs especially when China spent about 20% of their defence budget for the same.

"This is an issue which DRDO has been pursuing for a long time and currently a case for 436 scientists is with the government for approval," he said.

While pointing that the average age of scientist in DRDO is over 40 years and “a top heavy and narrow base is not a healthy structure for R&D organisations”, he asked the government to “appreciate the gravity of the situation and take appropriate measures to ensure manpower".

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was present on the occasion, assured DRDO of all help but asked the scientists to constantly upgrade themselves and avoid “duplication of work”.

He asked DRDO scientists to “learn” from ‘rishis’, who overcame jealousy and anger since “many tussles and politics” had been seen in the scientists’ community. Parrikar told them to "roll up their sleeves" and put in more effort and questioned why “we cannot produce a basic assault rifle for the armed forces or a good bullet-proof jacket for the troops”.

"For an educated person, to have humility is one of the most important virtues. I think the scientist community should choose to make it part of their overall behaviour and set up. This one apsect...I see many tussles. Politics is everywhere but it is also being sometimes played in a wrong sense. I understand you have high aspirations," Parrikar said. "Defence export from India, which is at about $150 million currently, should be targeted to be increased to $1 billion if not more in the next 2-3 years,” he added.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 24 Sep 2015 22:47

Some excellent news. Kudos to Mr Parrikar and Mr Modi for taking this long overdue step, which was being pushed for by DRDO and the pvt sector, both.

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/jAe9q8 ... one-t.html

member_22539 · Post by **member_22539** » 25 Sep 2015 04:45

^Does that mean that a private company is going to make Rustom? Will this be parallel to a HAL production run?

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 25 Sep 2015 05:29

Karan M: Please expand on your thought. I am a little confused as to what the livemint article is trying to say.

member_22539 · Post by **member_22539** » 25 Sep 2015 06:07

Perhaps this clears it up a little:

Saurav Jha ‏@SJha1618 6h6 hours ago New Delhi, Delhi
The Tatas have also been offered a chance to build the Rustom-2.

Gyan · Post by **Gyan** » 25 Sep 2015 09:30

I thought in 2010 HAL won a tender to build Rustom-2 and got a contract to manufacture 18 Rustom-2s for Rs. 1500 crores. Anyway involvement of TATAs is very welcome move, if true.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 25 Sep 2015 09:46

vayu tuvan wrote:Karan M: Please expand on your thought. I am a little confused as to what the livemint article is trying to say.

Its the first time that we have the private sector as the designated manufacturer for a program from day 1 - Rustom 2. For Rustom -1, while HAL may be the end integrator, pvt firms already make most of the critical airframe. Rustom-2 design will be shared in entirety with the pvt partner, so if need be, they can modify/make variants etc with DRDO assistance. This is a huge step up for the sector since hitherto, almost all completed/finished systems were done at the DPSU level and DRDO did not have the freedom to choose designated private firms as the lead manufacturer for series production.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 25 Sep 2015 10:10

Thanks. That clears it up. To summarize Ruston 2 can and will be produced in large numbers.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 25 Sep 2015 10:37

Possibly sir.. a lot depends on armed forces projection and how the pvt sector steps up too to take the design forward.

This is what is really a big step IMO: “We’re now talking of sharing everything that we develop,” Tamilmani said in an interview. “The concept of public-sector defence companies alone making everything that the Indian armed forces need is gone.”

Potentially this could mean everything from radars to sonars to missiles to tanks. Long overdue step.

Thakur_B · Post by **Thakur_B** » 25 Sep 2015 19:07

Karan M wrote:Possibly sir.. a lot depends on armed forces projection and how the pvt sector steps up too to take the design forward.

This is what is really a big step IMO: “We’re now talking of sharing everything that we develop,” Tamilmani said in an interview. “The concept of public-sector defence companies alone making everything that the Indian armed forces need is gone.”

Potentially this could mean everything from radars to sonars to missiles to tanks. Long overdue step.

Small arms and ammunition, boots, parachutes, general purpose military vehicles, apparel and accessories, personal protection wear should be low hanging fruit for private industry.

Edit: in short, supplant the IOF/OFB.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 25 Sep 2015 22:55

Yup. What we need to be careful about is CKD giri. The pvt sector should be roped in to extend the xapabilities in design and development by doing the last mile connectivity for DRDO designs and gaining the experience to make their own derivatives or new ones. Not replace OFB screwdrivers with their own, thougb even that would be a step up from the QA/QC wastage that goes on with some of ord board

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 26 Sep 2015 18:43

Excellent report of how when given a chance, indigenous products continue to evolve. Also note the details gathered by the reporter as versus the drain inspector reports of 3rd rate hacks like rajat pandit.

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities ... mechanism/

Faster, lighter, DRDO’s Daksh now has CBRN detection mechanism
Daksh is primarily designed to detect and recover Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It was inducted in the Indian Army around 2011.
4 1

Comments (0)

Written by Sushant Kulkarni | Pune | Published:September 26, 2015 12:55 am
drdo, daksh, dakash drdo, drdo news, pune news, india news
The new Daksh

Armed Forces and other security agencies in the country will now have enhanced hazard detection capabilities as the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO’s) indigenous robot Daksh has not just become lighter, faster and rugged, but has also been equipped with Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) hazard detection mechanisms.

Daksh, which has been developed by DRDO’s Pune-based lab Research and Development Establishment, Engineers (R&DE) located in Vishrantwadi, is primarily designed to detect and recover Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It was inducted in the Indian Army around 2011.

A senior DRDO scientist said, “When Daksh was inducted into the Army, they already had imported Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). The performance of Daksh has been at par with the imported ones. In some aspects, it is even better. As per our information, as many of 40 IEDs have been neutralised in the insurgency-affected areas in the North-East India with the help of Daksh so far. But from the beginning, we were aware of the limitations of this robot. One of the most important was the speed, another was its weight.”

As per the information given by scientists from the R&DE, the newer version of Daksh is made of aluminium alloy as against the older version, which was made of steel. “The use of new material has not just reduced the weight but has also made it more rugged. Use of custom-made motors has increased the speed by three times as compared to the older version,” said Mridukant Pathak, a scientist with the R&DE.

The new Daksh has been integrated with DRDO’s Unmanned Areal Vehicle (UAV) Netra, and the integrated system is being called CBRN Remotely Operated Platform (ROP). “In case of a radiation hazard, the radiation detection unit fitted on Netra can be flown to the affected area. Netra model being used for this platform has an increased range of four kilometres and double the flying time. The new-age warfare will be way different from the conventional one and we need to have capabilities to detect CBRN attacks. Now that these capabilities are indigenous, we do not have depend on foreign suppliers,” said another DRDO scientist.

“This system will not just be useful for the armed forces, but also the paramilitary forces operating in areas where the nature of conflict is different. There will be demand for this new version of Daksh from the security agencies. The manufacturing of these units will be done by Pune-based Bharat Electronics Ltd and three private companies on the Transfer of Technology (ToT) basis,” said Alok Mukherjee, assistant director of the R&DE.

Jamal Khan, the Commandant of the Institute of IED Management of the Central Reserved Police Force (CRPF) located in Talegaon near Pune said, “The faster, lighter version of the devise will definitely have an added advantage. The enhanced capabilities will certainly be useful in the backdrop of changing nature of warfare in insurgency affected areas, especially with increased threat of dirty bombs, which use radioactive material.”

Related reports
The robot,which can handle,scan and defuse Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) will add to the Indian Armys existing fleet of 45 such imported Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV). Besides the LSP order of 20 which would be delivered soon,over 100 ROVs are required by the Army in future. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities ... YGA3f.dpuf
http://indianexpress.com/article/cities ... er-terror/
http://indianexpress.com/article/cities ... ence-expo/
http://indianexpress.com/article/cities ... army-soon/

Abhay_S · Post by **Abhay_S** » 28 Sep 2015 03:43

TATA Motors for defence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJXna0DbURc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDNKH3x_7Vo

Some infor about Kestrel.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 28 Sep 2015 23:26

http://idrw.org/hals-helicopter-unit-at ... more-74577
what kind of locals would be useful in building helos?

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 02 Oct 2015 01:34

http://swarajyamag.com/economy/budget-2 ... s-defence/

For DRDO, this year’s budget is essentially neutral in that it more or less preserves the jump in allocation it received in the Modi government’s interim budget last year after years of stagnancy. However while its capital outlay has increased from the revised estimate for 2014-15, it is actually less than the budgetary allocation made in the same period. DRDO per se won’t be unhappy with this year’s budget, but for it to make faster progress in crucial areas such as seeker development, aero-engines and directed energy weapons, it would need more manpower and test facilities than it has now.

Be that as it may, this year’s budget does allocate Rs 144 crore for ‘Prototype Development Under Make Procedure’ which indicates that programs such as the Tactical Communication System which is being competed for by private and public consortia and involves the govt bearing 80 percent of the cost of prototyping, are moving forward. Indian industry has been particularly lobbying for the quicker rollout of these programs which hold great promise for it to climb the value chain in defence manufacturing with lower than usual risk.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 04 Oct 2015 19:44

At 17,600 ft DRDO inaugurates new R&D centre in Chang La.

The DRDO today inaugurated an Extreme Altitude Research Centre at Chang La in Jammu and Kashmir at 17,600 ft above mean sea level, the world's highest terrestrial R&D centre.

It has been established by Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, a constituent establishment of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The centre, 75 km off Leh town towards Pangong lake, is poised to be the world's highest terrestrial R&D centre in the cold desert of Ladakh, where the temperature goes as low as -40 degrees Celsius during extreme winter months coupled with reduced atmospheric pressure and humidity besides high wind velocity and UV radiation.

The centre was inaugurated by DRDO chief S Christopher, who highlighted its utility for Research & Development work in frontal areas of food and agriculture and bio-medical sciences for well being of the soldiers deployed in high-altitude cold desert.

He said that a large number of life sciences activities are proposed to be undertaken at this centre including human physiological work, long term conservation of plant genetic resources, designing, testing, validation and demonstration of mobile and portable greenhouses, soil-less micro-farming technologies for fresh food in remote landlocked posts besides conservation and propagation of endangered extreme altitude medicinal plants and others.

Defence R&D and DG (Life Sciences) Bhuvnesh Kumar said that new centre, besides undertaking life sciences activities, may provide unique opportunity to other labs and establishments of DRDO for testing and evaluation of electronics and communication devices, testing of materials for high altitude applications, batteries, fuel cells, UAV's micro engines among others.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 06 Oct 2015 00:14

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?opti ... 1&Itemid=1

Indian Military Industry Could be Left Behind; Warns Expert PDF Imprimir E-Mail

New Delhi, Sep 23 (Prensa Latina) Research and Development Organization for the Defense (RDOD) demanded today more funds and scientists to improve the military capabilities of India and avoid falling behind with regard to other powers.
During a conference of this institution, its director, Selvin Christopher said that New Delhi hardly spends just 6.5 percent of its military budget on research and development and compared it with 20 percent of China.

We also need to expand our range of specialists, a program at a stand still since 2001, he stressed.

In this regard, he noted that any facility of that type requires young people to improve. But "today the average age of our scientists is more than 40 years," he emphasized.

Speaking at the event, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar promised aid to the RDOD.

Despite these problems, the institution is responsible for several achievements of the national defense industry such as the development of Arjun tanks, Brahmos cruise missile and Akash air defense system, among others.

jayasimha · Post by **jayasimha** » 06 Oct 2015 10:43

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 230129.cms

Former DRDO chief VK Aatre's task force to meet tomorrow on DPP

Prem Kumar · Post by **Prem Kumar** » 07 Oct 2015 08:49

Fantastic move!

Army to deploy remote-controlled guns at LoC to take on infiltrators