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

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

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

Fine achievement, but not entirely accurate. The Jackal steel bullet proof vest was India's first indigenous one. However, it ended up being not very successful for individual soldiers. It is reportedly used for armor plating types of vehicles.
Thakur_B
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Thakur_B »

Ashokk wrote:Indian scientist's bullet-proof vest for the army gets government nod
KOLKATA: A bullet-proof jacket designed by Bengali scientist Professor Shantanu Bhowmick has finally received the government's approval.

The empowered committee of the Ministry of Defence approved the jacket, which is made from indigenous ultra modern lightweight thermoplastic technology. It will be included in the Prime Minister's 'Make in India' project. The task of manufacturing the jackets will begin after the PMO gives it the green-light.

A joint collaboration between the DRDO and defence ministry, this is the first time in 70 years that the Indian Army will have bullet-proof jacket manufactured completely through indigenous technology.

Currently, India spends Rs 1.5 lakh on a single jacket used by the military and para-military forces. These jackets are imported from America. Dr Bhowmick's jacket will cost only Rs 50,000 per jacket. That means India will save Rs 20,000 crores every year.

The present bullet proof jackets being used by our jawans in the Army, BSF, CRPF and Police are heavy, weighing anywhere between 15-18 kgs. These new light weight jackets weigh 6-8 times less at just 1.5 kg. It has 20 layers and the carbon fiber in it will enable the jacket to work in 57 degrees Celsius also.

Professor Shantanu Bhowmick is the departmental head of aerospace engineering in Coimbatore's Amrita University. He has high hopes for his new invention and expressed his happiness at getting the official nod for the project. He thanked former Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Subrata Saha, who had taken the initiative and encouraged Bhowmick. The professor dedicated his invention to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Sounds like a poorly written article. The lightest of plates from fanciest of materials alone would be 1.5 kg. The basic plate carrier and ballistic vest may weight 1.5 Kg (currently used ones weight 4-5 kilos). The overall weight of the vest, with all plates would be in the range of 6-8 kilos.
Gyan
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Gyan »

I think Kevlar will be replaced by thermoplastic. Weight may not fall much but performance will improve.
Last edited by Gyan on 07 Jun 2017 08:46, edited 1 time in total.
ramana
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by ramana »

Thakur_B, I did not know about carbon fiber as a ballistic barrier.
I know Kevlar is a ballistic barrier.

The thermoplastic is the resin to hold the carbon cloth layers.

---
Added later:
Carbon fiber is the in thing for ballistic barriers and when used with ceramic plates has high penetration resistance.

The professor has pulled it off!!!!
Gaur
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Gaur »

Defence ministry moots public-private partnerships for four arms units
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 012934.cms
The proposal was mooted to various stakeholders at a meeting chaired by Ashok Kumar Gupta, secretary (defence production), on May 30, in presence of Ordnance Factory Board chairman S C Bajpai.

"While there were indications of privatisation in general, a member of the Niti Aayog proposed that four small arms factories be converted into PPP units. This was seconded by the secretary (Gupta)," a source privy to the developments told TOI. More meetings are expected to be held with the general managers of the manufacturing units in the coming days, the source said.
The four units identified for the PPP model are Small Arms Factory (SAF) in Kanpur, Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli (OFT), Rifle Factory Ishapore (RFI) in Bengal and Ordnance Factory Korwa in UP. Sources, however, added that no private player had been identified yet. The four factories manufacture 9mm carbines, 7.62mm rifles, light machine guns (5.56mm), rifles (5.56mm), artillery guns and other infantry weapons alongside other items.
Some stakeholders are believed to be sceptical of the move. "They are already declaring many items produced by ordnance factories as non-core and allowing our customers (armed forces) to directly procure it from private players. With this (PPP model), even weapons will be in private hands," said a source. The NDA government has so far declared 143 items "non-core" and asked ordnance factories to focus on core items.
JayS
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by JayS »

Gyan wrote:I think Kevlar will be replaced by thermoplastic. Weight may not fall much but performance will improve.
Kevlar is fibre material and Thermoplastic is the matrix in a composite. They are not interchangeable. Thermoplastics typically have only a fraction of a strenth of fibres such as kevlar or Carbon fibres.

Ramana saar,
Kevlar, Carbon fibres, glass fibre, ceramic fibres etc are all equivalent materials in some sense. Act as fibre material in a composite which give tensile strength to the composite material.

A 3D woevn carbon fibre composite material could potentially be better than the normal manually layered material. Hope they have/will check this one out.

They should check out Ceramic Matrix Composites or CMC for BPJs as well, maybe for future. CMCs would be replacing superalloys in jet turbines in a lot of places. Also CMCs would potentially be very light in comparison.
shiv
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by shiv »

Image

http://www.millennium.in/uploads/4835Br ... at%204.pdf

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... s?from=mdr
economictimes.indiatimes.com
IIAAT Holding: World's first hybrid 'aeroboat' made by Indo-Russian JV unveiled
By IANS | Updated: Jun 07, 2017, 01.09 PM ISTPost a Comment
3-4 minutes
By Biswajit Choudhury

NEW DELHI/MOSCOW: The world's first hybrid "aeroboat" capable of travelling on land, water, snow and sand that has been built by an Indo-Russian joint venture was unveiled in Moscow on Tuesday at a start-ups event organised by Russia's state-run Skolkovo Foundation.

The aeroboat is designed to access difficult terrain, such as flooded or marshy areas where the use of regular boats is made impossible because of shallow water, patches of dry land or by marine vegetation.

It has been designed by IIAAT Holding, a joint venture between the International Institute for Advanced Aerospace Technologies and Indian firm Millennium Aerodynamics.

The aeroboat is on demonstration in and around a pond in the two-day Startup Village annual event in Moscow for technology entrepreneurs and investors organised by Russia's biggest innovation fund the Skolkovo Foundation.

IIAAT Holding board member Sukrit Sharan, who is in Moscow, told IANS in an e-mail interview that they have orders for more than 25 aeroboat units from private and government buyers in India of which they have already despatched five for use in disaster management.

These are much faster and more robust than the comparable hovercrafts

, he said.

"We have already exported around five units to India, both for transportation and disaster management applications. These delivered products are poised to help save hundreds of lives in India during the monsoon season when the regions experience floods," Sharan said.

"After our success with Indian disaster management authorities, Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations has shown very strong interest in these vehicles."

While hovercrafts on average move at around 45-50 km per hour on water, aeroboats are capable of going at around 150 km or more, he said.

"The Aeroboat is also more robust than hovercrafts, and with estimated maintenance costs of $400-$600 per year, is cheaper to maintain and fuel," Sharan said.

He pointed out that it runs on a "hybrid" engine, meaning it can run on either petrol or electricity, enabling users to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency.

"Additionally, we are equipping our aeroboats with IoT (Internet of Things) technology, which allows us to remotely monitor and control and diagnose the equipment, as well as troubleshoot select faults," he said.

According to the makers, with room for 10 passengers and one crew member, the 6.5-metre-long aeroboat can handle steep slopes and embankments, and does not require any marine infrastructure such as jetties, since it is amphibious.

"Hovercrafts work on static air-cushion, whereas aeroboats work on dynamic air-cushion. This feature gives aeroboats a huge advantage in terms of speed and manoeuvrability," he said.

"It's possible to use hovercrafts, but they are very expensive to operate and also have speed limitations. Our amphibious aeroboats can provide high-speed year-round navigation, even when bodies of water are frozen like in Russia," he added.

(Biswajit Choudhury can be reached at biswajit.c@ians.in)
ramana
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by ramana »

Kevlar/aramid is a molecule arranged as a long fiber. This gives it the required high strength.
Carbon fiber is made from rayon and its analog fibers which are converted to carbon form. it also has very high strength.
The resin is epoxy or high temperature resins
Ceramic matrix plates help in shattering the incoming bullet and spread the load to reduce trauma to the body.
So need both for military grade ballistic protection.
Another is the helmet are.
ramana
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by ramana »

In Florida Everglades region they have flat bottomed boats with engine driven fans.

They were invented using surplus aero engines after WWII and for travel in swamps with low draft.


Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airboat
ramana
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by ramana »

X-post from GSLV thread..

This post sums up why Indian DRDO research ends up sabotaged Especially when you have import friendly govt (Congress system for bribes) and services (Indians cant make anything with quality)...

No wonder US has the buy local policy for all major weapons systems.
vina wrote:
shiv wrote:The Boeing 747 - A 380 example is relevant in that Airbus felt that 747 was long in tooth and decided to put in a competitor. Boeing decided to stay out. A 380 is not doing well.

I am not sure that we are "competing". We are behind and are going to stay behind in a market that has many players who can loft heavier weights into orbit than us and private players who can do it cheaper. We are watching what others are doing and trying to catch up.

If we must look ahead we need to undercut or bypass the advantages that these players have. No point chasing them except to the extent we need for our own satellites - by the time we catch up they will be a step ahead in the game. This is true of all high-tech segments. We are not going to grab a monopoly segment of the market - which is what is needed to become a world leader.
Ah. Now we have strayed into Strategy & PissNess and more specifically into "Technology Strategy" , where I of course have the "Upper Hand" (with a vert long one at that ), so do let me expound or do "Vyakhyaanam" .

B747 vs A380 . This is a classic example of a strategy implementation (of a game theory based deterrence) of an entry barrier. It is done in all instances where 1) Fixed costs/ Entry costs are very high 2) The overall market size is limited 3) 1 and 2 together deter new entrants.

How so ? Well, it takes tremendous amount of money to develop and certify a plane of the size of A380 , the market for planes of those size is limited and so what happens, ONCE you develop it and bring it into service ? Well, for a potential new entrant into it, the incumbent costs are now SUNK costs, while for the new entrant, he has to recover full investment costs AND realise a profit. The incumbent can and WILL sell the planes at marginal cost if NEED be , and the new entrant will NEVER make a profit and wont even recover his investment.

So, for the first entrant , it guarantees, a monopoly position in that segment and decades of fat juicy profits and margins. This is exactly what Boeing did with the 747 , in the early 60s , when Boeing BET THE FARM on that plane and hence deterred competition in that segment and reigned unchallenged for 40 years, until new technology (composites and higher thrust and more efficient engines allowed twin engine planes A330, B777) allowed superior economics to a 4 engined all metal plane , and on the higher side was straddled by the A380 (with far newer tech), and hence fell between two stools.

Happens all the time in multiple industry. Is demand for a particular specialty chemical X million tons a year ?, Well, if you want to deter competition, the first entrant builds a plant of capacity 1.5 X million , they will deter any possible new entrant.

{Under the guise of resource constraint, the MoF funds the factories at miniscule just barely live capacity! Look at LCA production capacity.}


So how do you break into a market with such barriers erected (these kinds of things rely on economies of scale, the incumbent has lower costs due to economies of scale, while the entrant is sub-scale) is 1) Via technology distribution disrpution 2) Govt action /regulatory action to break economies of scale of incumbent.


1) If ISRO develops a reusable rocket plane with fundamentally different economics ie. does a disrputive innovation ( a term so beloved to VCs and other useless types like me , and so cliched) .I am not talking of Space X type, but rather more like the Paul Allen type of lofting a rocket to high altitude and launching.. as someone posted , a airfoil develops 7X it's drag as lift and far more efficient in lifting things than fitting a rocket to the Mushrraf) , it will disrupt the entire rocket launch business.

2) With existing technology & attendant economics, disrupt economies of scale. This anyway happens. The satellite launch business in NOT a competitive market , but rather protected franchises by national govt. The US wont let India launch their satellites, the Europeans wont let us launch their's neither will the Chinese nor Japanese. In fact there is an "understanding" between US , the EU and also China not to compete on price for satellite launch services.
a) So in that case, the only competitive segment is for 3 rd country / non govt launches. Here there is true price competition.
b) Market a) is allied with satellite building business, which too is again an "protected" business. (US wont allow satellite exports for launch in India).
c) In current tech . Basically put rules saying that all Indian TV broadcasts have to be India built and/or India launched satellites (all the Asian guys who lease transponders here will fall in line and buy ISRO satellites and launch from here) ..
d) Once you have a domestic market of size, you can have the volumes and economies to compete in a)

End of Vyhakyanam (OT).
In military hardware parlance, once you have a no import Make in India policy you build sufficient capacity to later realize economy of scale.

People laughed when I suggested 60 squadron IAF capacity.
Surya
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Surya »

Lots of info in this - the Werewolf MPV trials

Posting here too because of the information on OFB


http://www.wmf.com.na/files/india_trial_report.pdf
aakashrj
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by aakashrj »



Livefist visited MKU's facility.

Below is the snippet from his blog:

Straight up, in less than two months, the Army gets to start replacing its patkas and standard issue Model 1974 infantry combat helmets, both deemed inadequate for the surge in scale and breadth of operations Indian soldiers have had thrust on them. The new combat helmets that the Army will begin taking deliveries of in August will be its first in a quarter century. The first lot of the 1,58,000 ballistic helmets built outside Kanpur by Indian firm MKU will be shipped to infantry and counter-insurgency units, expectedly starting with battalions based in Jammu & Kashmir.

https://www.livefistdefence.com/2017/06 ... years.html
jayasimha
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by jayasimha »

Print ReleasePrintXClose
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
13-June-2017 13:37 IST
Defence Minister Unveils ‘DRDO key achievements 2014-17’

The Defence Minister Shri Arun Jaitley unveiled a compilation of the contribution of the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) to the Indian Armed and Paramilitary Forces here today. The DRDO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Defence R&D Dr. S Christopher, Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal S B Deo and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence & the DRDO were also present on the occasion of the release of the “DRDO Key Achievements 2014-17” compilation.

A number of DRDO developed weapon systems, platforms, dual use equipment have been accepted and inducted in the Indian Armed Forces and Paramilitary Forces. Some of the notable successful tests completed and inducted are Tejas fighters, Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C) System, Akash Weapon System, SONAR systems, Varunastra Torpedo, Bharani Weapon Locating Radar (WLR), Nuclear Biological Chemical (NBC) Recce Vehicle, AGNI-V, Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM), Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM), NAG, Advanced Towed Array Gun (ATAG), Wheeled Armoured platform (WhAP), RUSTOM-II MALE Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, etc.

The production value of DRDO developed products, cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council has grown by 60 per cent in the last three years to approximately ₹ 2,57,000 crore from nearly ₹ 1,61,000 crore. The export potential of DRDO developed systems has also increased manifolds and this year export of torpedo stands at US$ 37.9 million. This is a step towards achieving self-reliance in critical defence systems and realisation of the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’.

****


NW/DK/Rajib
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease. ... lid=165589
jayasimha
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by jayasimha »

Image
The Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence, Shri Arun Jaitley unveiling the compilation of the contribution of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) to the Indian Armed and Paramilitary Forces, in New Delhi on June 13, 2017. The Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, the Chairman DRDO and Secretary, DD (R&D), Dr. S. Christopher and other dignitaries are also seen.
CNR :98125 Photo ID :107542
Karan M
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Karan M »

LRDE has a new radar developed, called BFSR-XR, extended range. It has a range of upto 30km!
The imported component in older BFSR the command and display unit, which BEL promptly outsourced to an Israeli firm, despite DRDO working with a pvt sector firm to develop the first batch. BEL didn't get a local version out thereafter, which is baffling. Since its hardly the most complex part of the system & several firms like DATA PATTERNS could have done it for BEL.
Border Surveillance System (BOSS): DRDO is involved in design and development of a border surveillance system comprising EO payload consisting of thermal and day camera, LRF, GPS and DMC and BFSR (XR) for day/night monitoring of border area to ease man patrolling by automatically detecting an intrusion. During the year, two units of BOSS have been realized and installed in Lehand the Ladakh region. Performance has been demonstrated to GOC and Corps Commander HQ.
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease. ... lid=156049
Karan M
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Karan M »

AEROMAG

Interview : Col. H.S. Shankar, VSM, Chairman & MD, Alpha Design Technologies Private Limited
By Editor 2016

Article
Bright Vision In Sight

Acclaimed as one of the foremost Defence R&D technologists in India today, Col. H.S. Shankar, VSM, is the Chairman and Managing Director of Alpha Design Technologies Private Limited, a premier Defence Electronics and Aviation R&D and Production Company based in Bengaluru.

In his 22-year-long service in the Indian Army / EME, he took part in both 1965 and 1971 Wars against Pakistan. He was decorated with Vishisht Seva Medal for upgrading the TIGERCAT Ground-to-Air Missile System. He held important assignments in the Army and had extended long tenures at the Border Areas in Punjab and in High Altitude Areas in Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim.

He joined BEL in 1986 as Deputy General Manager and rose to become Director (R&D) in 1996, a post he held until 2003. At BEL, he was responsible for the development and production of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) which are being used today all over India for elections. He also directed more than 250 new R&D Products while at BEL, including all the projects under Guided Missile Development Program, Electronic Warfare Systems, Tactical Communication Systems, Radars, Tank Fire Control Systems, etc. He won the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Defence R&D, presented by the Defence Minister in 2001.

He launched the Alpha Design Technologies in March 2003, and the company’s annual turnover today is around Rs 370 crores and it has a healthy Order book of Rs 1,100 crores. Alpha specialises in development and production of Night Vision Thermal sights, Electronic Warfare equipment, Tactical Communications equipment, and major R&D projects such as Software Defined Radios, Missile Seeker Systems (in collaboration with BRAHMOS), IFF, Simulators, etc.

He has endeavoured to bring together Indian and Israeli Industries spearheading in facilitating ‘Make in India’ projects. He is the Chairman of FICCI Defence Sub-Committee on Indian Defence SME.

Col.Shankar speaks to AeroMag Asia about the success saga of Alpha Design Technologies, leveraging its unique strengths inDefence Electronics and Aviation R&D and Production and its key international collaborations and joint ventures


Alpha Design Technologies has made big strides in a short span of time. How was the journey so far?

We started Alpha Design Technology in 2004 with hardly three people and a turnover of Rs 50,000; and 12 years on now, we have become a company of 840 people – 610 of them engineers, a majority being in the age group of 21 - 29 years and almost 50 per cent of them women, mostly working in R&D. Our turnover has grown to Rs 370 crores. So there is a very large increase both in our turnover and also our strength and our resources.

Our customers are mainly the Army, Air Force and Border Security Force and majority of our projects are in the field of Night Vision devices – Thermal Imager and Image Intensifier Tube based, for handheld thermal imager sights, rifle sights, carbine sights, AK-47 sights, binoculars and goggles. We are very strong in what we make. In the field of Electronic Warfare sights, we produce EW sensors, called MILS-Missile Launch Detection Systems. We have collaboration with Germany, with Airbus, and we make large quantities of the sensors, as a part of fitment for helicopters particularly. We had an order of almost 460 such sensors to be made for the Indian program for the upgrade of Cheetah helicopters. Now we are expecting similar sort of things for MI-17, LCA, LCH also for ALH hopefully, so many types of helicopters that may be coming in, including KA-226. In other words, it is a very important and very sensitive item being produced here for which we have set up ultra-modern facilities, calibration, testing etc.

We have established a separate R&D group in Hyderabad with more than 60 very fine young engineers, who undertake design development of various sub-systems and modules, sub-units and sub-assemblies for EW systems, primarily for the DRDO and later on when these become approved for production by BLS, their sub-contractors. So this is a very unique facility which we have established in Hyderabad.

In addition in Bangalore our R&D is very strong, we are making our own RF seekers for Missile systems, we are making interrogator Friend or Foe called IFF for heliborne and ground- and airborne- applications and we are also in Software defined Radio development. We are doing Radio relays with software defined radio as the base and so many other important projects which are of great importance to our country.

Could you elaborate on your product portfolio, facilities and manufacturing capacity?

As I explained, firstly it is a design house for RF seekers, IFF, then we make the software defined Radios, we make micro-wave components, large number of thermal imager based systems for the Army and the Border Security Force and versions of various communications sets, like Tactical switches, ULSB, INS Integrated Navigation System, Laser Target Designators, and varieties of sights for the Rifles. Among the products mentioned almost 80 per cent is of our own design and the rest is collaborative projects wherein we have minimum 50 per cent indigenous content.

Give us an update on some of the key collaborations, joint ventures?

We have two Joint Ventures already in action; one is with respect to International Technologies Lasers (ITL), on the optical adaptor electronic side. ITL is an Israeli company with whom we have developed very good relations and we are jointly working on quite a few projects. We supply the Indian Army quite a large number of sights and reflex sights for the soldiers.

And we have the second JV with Electronica, Italy, for the production, assembly, aircraft testing of SSTRU. This is going to be become functional in the next one or two years, as soon as the project is cleared by the Indian Air Force.


What are the new business opportunities you are eyeing in the marketplace?

Already we have expanded a lot, in terms or turnover, and we have a good order position. We see the requirement in the market for Thermal Imager based fire control systems for the tanks and BMPs. We have various versions of long-range surveillance systems, different versions of EW suit for helicopters. IFF is a huge market, as also software defined radio. We are good in simulators and we have recently finalised a contract for 57 numbers of BMP-II simulators and Laser Target Designators. We are going to supply what has been contracted from us during this year.

Our order book position as of date is of Rs 1,400 crores, which also include US$ 80 million of exports of Advanced Thermal imager based fire control systems to various countries.

What's your take on 'Make in India' campaign and how you can leverage it, based on the company's expertise?

It is a very fine initiative by the Government of India for giving priority to producing as much as possible in India. As far as our company is concerned, we feel that we are in a very unique position, having established ourselves and having ultra-modern test, production, qualification facilities and equipment, we can meet the demands of the defence forces for both R&D, manufacture and supply of large quantities of defence oriented equipment and systems.

In addition, our subsidiary company, Alpha Tocol, is already supplying various Air frames and other sub-systems for SUKHOI aircraft to HAL Nasik unit. That will further be strengthened and a larger number of orders is expected. This will form the basis also for the manufacturing base for the ‘Make in India’ program.

Your thoughts on defence offsets and how the policy environment can be improved further for Indian companies?

Among the Indian companies, at least in the MSME sector, we may probably be the most successful company in obtaining offset orders and also in completing them. We have done Rs 300 crores plus offset orders in the last two years, primarily on the Thermal Imager based Fire control systems and we would like to leverage this and add new offset programs to further improve ourselves and also to give quality products to the international market through the route of offsets.

MSMEs are the base in our country for developing core technologies. The bigger companies would only be system integrators, so this sector will have to be strengthened and the Government of India has come out with a large number of schemes for making this more effective. There is a need for holding the hands of MSMEs by providing them enough funds for development and infrastructure and also to simplify some of the anomalies like providing bank guarantees to the MoD which entails that the MSMEs have to provide collaterals to the banks for providing the bank guarantees. It is also necessary to give protection on foreign exchange variation not only for future projects but in particular for current and on-going projects.
Karan M
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Karan M »

Commitment and Success

P. Sudhakar, Chairman and Managing Director of Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad, has been with ECIL since 1979. He has contributed immensely towards development of systems for Nuclear, Defence, Aerospace, Security, Information technology and e-governance sectors in the country.

He did his graduation in Electrical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Warangal and post-graduation in Integrated Electronics and Circuits from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He had undergone Advanced Management Training at European schools of Management in France, Italy and Germany.

Sudhakar has specialised in the areas of design, manufacturing, testing and commissioning of Control and Instrumentation systems required for Indian Nuclear program. The systems developed and delivered by him are successfully operating at all the indigenously built Nuclear Power Plants in India. He built the Command and Control systems for BRAHMOS and AKASH Missile Programme in close association with Defence Research and Development Laboratory. He is associated with number of projects of strategic importance for the nation undertaken by ECIL.

Under his leadership ECIL received the prestigious SCOPE Gold Trophy for R&D, Technology Development and Innovation for 2012-13 and INS Industrial Excellence Award for 2013-14. He was awarded as Electronics Man of the Year 2013-14 by Electronics Industries Association. NIT Warangal presented him Distinguished Alumni Professional Achievement Award in 2014. He was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award by International Society Automation in 2015 for his outstanding contributions to Automation in India.


Seamless Splendour



P. Sudhakar, Chairman and Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of India, speaks to Aeromag Asia about the glorious saga of innovative revolution in the field of strategic electronics spearheaded by ECIL, on the threshold of its Golden Jubilee. Excerpts from the interview:


From developing antenna feed systems for ISRO to producingtransducers and sensors for defence sector, ECIL has even reached out to Antarctic. What is new at the strategic front?

We have always been known as a strategic electronics company. We would like to continue this journey and try to develop critical technologies required for strategic sectors. We were one of the first few people to get in to the aerospace sector from a small suit-case terminal to mammoth 32-mtr antenna we designed, developed and supplied to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). We have been one of the prime suppliers for all requirements of ISRO. Our portfolio includes earth station antennae, small antennae and deep space network antennae. Last year we supplied a data reception centre at Antarctica, for National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC). As spinoffs from aerospace achievements, we have moved on to similar systems required for defence sector, particularly, VSAT solutions. As for small components, we have developed transducers and sensors for DRDO, RCI Laboratories; one of them is the actuator for Astra Missile. Similarly on the sensor side, we have been able to make LVDTs. This is one of the very closely guarded technologies in the world for missile programmes. We have been making the small potentiometers, which we now provide for the indigenous AKASH missile system. The inertial sensors, like gyros, synchros, that we make are now utilised in gun control, battle tanks like T-72 and BMP-II type of applications. We have also developed sensor packages which are very critical for some of our aerospace and defence applications.

How is the progress in ECIL’s missile support systems?

We have been in the Akash missile development program right from its inception. We have developed the command control software required for these applications. There are many new concepts like multi-sensor fusion, and assessment of the threat perception, then the kill capacity. All these things, we need to incorporate in our software and that is what we have done. We have successfully deployed the C4I systems – command control communication, computer and intelligent systems – for the Akash weapon systems for the Air force as well as Army requirements. This is one of the critical equipments, more like a heart of the system for the Akash missile. We also have missile check out facilities for the Akash missile program, both of these things indigenously developed with the support of DRDO.

We have been involved with Brahmos missile too from the very beginning. We developed the entire C4I ground support systems, including Mobile Command Post as well as Mobile Autonomous Launcher, for Brahmos and we have gone into the serial production; we have already supplied for two regiments of the Army and one squadron of the Air force. These are very complex systems involving the VSAT Communication Systems too. We are supplying sensors and actuators for the ASTRA programme also.

Though it is still in the initial stages of development, one of our most recent breakthroughs would be the airborne radar C41 placed on the missile. This is a very high-end technology, which is developed only in a few countries. I am very happy to share with you that this critical technology has been successfully developed in ECIL at lab level; we have completed all tests and met the requisite specifications and very shortly it will be going for the flight trials.


ECIL is well-known for its integrated security systems. As threat perceptions increase what new solutions do you offer?

We have been pioneers and in the forefront in security systems for the past many years. We designed and developed an integrated security system for the Indian Parliament. We continue to support the system and we bring upgrades into it. It is one of the finest systems in operation. We have been supplying such integrated security systems for various important installations in the country like the nuclear power plants, some of the strategic locations of the defence and some key offices and residents like Rashtrapati Bhavan. We have supplied integrated security systems for the Delhi Secretariat and many state legislative assemblies in the country. As the threat perception is increasing, we are able to come up with newer solutions and newer products in the security sector.

ECIL’s Electronic Voting Machines have proved to be simple and very user-friendly. Is there much demand from abroad for these?

We have supplied our Electronic Voting Machines to our neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. We have more demands from some African countries. We had to totally customise those machines specifically for one of the African countries modifying it according to the language and different literal process applicable there. We have an exclusive state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, located in a 40 acre campus; we manufacture the entire voting machine in a most secure environment. We have established special processes and procedures to ensure that whatever we manufacture is technologically up to the mark and at the same time the whole manufacturing process is very secured, transparent and traceable. We have supplied more than 8 lakhs of these machines to the Central Election Commission in India and a substantial number to the State Election Commissions as well. We are in the process of expanding the production capacity for the voting machines.

What are the prospects for e-governance applications?

As we revolutionised the Indian literacy process with our Electronic Voting Machine, we see many opportunities in the e-governance area also. We were first in automating bank operations here. We launched computers in the banking sector and subsequently introduced them in the insurance sector also. We have developed applications for various government departments. For example, the Sales Tax department in Maharashtra uses our applications for revenue collection. Similarly, in Karnataka land revenue records automation was implemented with our technological support. Another vital application was for the procurement market of local farm products. When the farmers go and sell their products in the market, it involves lot of manual processes; we have automated the process, where they can go to a counter, check the current rates, declare what produce they propose to sell and immediately collect the cheque for it. This is a simple application which is very useful to farmers. Like this there are many applications that we have developed in the e-governance sector.

ECIL now has a variety of products in various advanced sectors. Do you propose to venture into new areas of operation or go in for collaborations?

The prime motto of ECIL has always been self-reliance in electronics. So in the earlier days in 1960s and 1970s whatever was required for the country in the electronic field we made it, whether it was small components like a capacitor or resistor or home appliances like Television. EC TV was one of the most popular television sets available in India. ECIL was the first company in India to make digital computers and many applications around the digital computers. We delivered both the hardware and software in large quantities. So for us, Make in India is not a new thing; we have been making in the country right from the inception. But with changing times we have been looking at opportunities for technological collaborations. Today we conceive a product as a judicious mix of both indigenous as well as collaborative technologies. We have collaborated with international firms for many products including defence products and we have been exploring every opportunity that comes and assessing the merits before taking a decision on partnerships. Currently we have very successful collaborations with foreign vendors and we are going ahead. We are not looking for a manufacturing unit as such, we always look at the technology aspects, whether we can get into technical collaboration or bring in value addition to the products.

We have a Joint Venture, ECIL-Rapiscan Ltd. Rapiscan. Rapiscan is a US company that makes baggage inspection systems. Today in every airport in the country you would see ECIL Rapiscan X-ray baggage inspection systems. It’s a profit making company with a turnover of Rs 80 crores. It is one of the successful JVs in Civil Aviation.

Research and innovation plays a crucial role in the development of organisations in your area. How far ECIL has progressed in this regard?

In a field like electronics without R&D it will be very difficult. We need to constantly innovate, bring out new products and keep abreast with the new developments in the sector. For the last 49 years, our lifeline has been research and development. In all these years, we have brought out so many innovative products – from the first digital computer, TV, programmable logic controller, 32-mtr deep-space antenna, which has been successfully used for the ‘Chandrayan’ project, or the C4I systems that we developed for the missile program, to the latest electronics voting machines. These are all fruits of indigenous R&D.

How is the order book position?

Somewhere in the late 90s we crossed Rs 1,000 crores turnover mark and we have been maintaining it ever since with reasonably good profits. Last year we had about Rs 50 crores of profit and a turnover of Rs 1,200 crores plus. We have reasonably good orders; we will be closing this financial year with more than Rs 2000 crores worth of the order book.

How do you propose to celebrate the Golden Jubilee Year?

On April 11, 2016 we will be entering into the 50th year. We would wish to meet all our customers, partners, supporters and reassure them that we would continue on this glorious path of critical technology developments and deployment and let us all make our country proud with all kinds of innovative products.
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Post by Karan M »

http://m.thehindubusinessline.com/compa ... 562374.ece
BEL to commercialise imaging, radio products
Updated: February 27, 2017 22:11 IST | Anil Urs

Defence public sector major BEL, in less than three years, has built a huge repository of intellectual property (IP) in imaging and radio communication sphere and is planning to commercialise them.

“The company was not filing any IP applications till 2010-11. It was only after the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was released, that the company took it seriously and is now concentrating on IP creation,” MV Gowtama, Chairman and Managing Director, told BusinessLine.

“Over the last three years, the company has filed over 50 IP applications. Of these, few are getting into commercialisation. IPs are in the areas of vector image processing, C4S, multi-sensor data fusion etc,” he added.

The first IP product to be out in the market is a communication radio for the Indian armed forces – STARS-V Mk III. Second is a V/UHF secure voice communication network – Belcomnet, for the defence, paramilitary forces and for exports and the third is Remote Controlled Weapon Station (RCWS)/Air Defence Weapon Station (ADWS) for the 12.7-mm gun of MBT Arjun Mk II battle tank.

Talking about STARS-V Mk III, Gowtama said: “The Radio (STARS-V Mk III) is completely designed, developed and made in BEL. The radio is a multi-brand, high data rate, software-intensive IP radio with mobile adhoc networking (MANET) functions supporting up to 64 notes.”

“This STARS-V Mk III will be ready by end of March, and 12 units will be supplied to the Indian Army for field trials. Once trials are over and based on the success, we are looking at the Army’s requirement of around 40,000 units that need to replace its old legacy radio,” he added.

For developing STARS-V Mk III, BEL has spent $7 million in R&D that includes technology, module and the product. The technology developed will be used for manpak, vehicle-based and handheld devices.
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Post by Karan M »

"Two-and-a-half years and close to Rs 50 crore have been spent for the product. Previous radios were hardware defined, which meant that upgrade was not an option, but this radio is software defined, which means it can be upgraded like a regular IP-operated gadget. What makes it special is its ability to hop frequencies, making it difficult for the enemy to breach data secrecy," said M V Gowtama, CMD, BEL. The Make in India initiative has seen some massive promotions at the Aero India show and the launch of STARS-V mark III added to it. The Next-Generation communications set's features include multi-band, high data rate, software intensive IP with Mobile Adhoc Networking functionality supporting up to 64 nodes.

The radio works in wide frequency band in the V/UHF range of 30-512 MHz and supports frequency hopping and fixed frequency modes of operation with built-in-high-grade digital voice and data secrecy. This new radio is backward compatible with the legacy STARS-V Mk II radio in clear, secure and frequency hopping modes of operation. The STARS-V mark III is designed as a 10W manpack transceiver. It comes with built-in encryption, 6PS receiver, ethernet interface and is password protected. The MANFT network is self-forming, self-healing and supports network throughput up to 1 Mbps and does not require any base station or infrastructure required for setting up of the network. It also includes state-of-the-art technology-based ruggedised gardware, in-house developed robust algorithms and waveforms, re-configurable software modules, emergency self-erasure, robust connectivity for network centric operations in tactical battle field condition. It also enables simultaneous voice, data and video services and transfer of situational awareness across network.

Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/india/aero-indi ... 49639.html
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Post by rahulm »

How Isro is safeguarding India’s space assets in orbit

From the above link
Isro also banks on its sophisticated Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR), operational since 2015, to track space debris. Tapan Misra said, "The state-of-the-art radar, developed at our centre, can track 10 objects simultaneously of size 30cm by 30cm at a distance of 800km. In case of objects of 50cm by 50cm size, the radar can track at a range of 1,000km.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by arshyam »

x-post from the Naval thread.
arshyam wrote:Chennai: Next defence shipbuilding hub - Jonathan Ananda, TNIE
CHENNAI: L&T Shipbuilding has plans for its Kattupalli Shipyard, just 30 kilometres from Chennai. Most of these could well see the shipyard become a major naval production hub in the private sector. According to the company’s managing director and CEO, Vice Admiral (Retd) B Kannan, the company has already decided that the yard will be dedicated to defence contracts.

“The management has decided, for now, that we will concentrate exclusively on defence contracts for the Kattupalli Shipyard, both from the Indian Navy as well as from friendly navies in the surrounding region,” he said. The company’s plans, in tandem with the Indian Navy’s aims to privatise a lot of its shipbuilding contracts, is likely to see the yard have a continuous pipeline of projects.

Speaking at the launch of India’s first indigenous floating dock at the shipyard on Monday, the Navy’s Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, Vice Admiral DM Deshpande, pointed out that while public sector shipyards had been building almost all of the Navy’s indigenous production, an increasingly bigger role for private shipyards is planned.

“We have a maritime perspective plan and it enumerates a list of vessels/systems where we would like private sector participation. We would like to start private Indian participation, through strategic partnerships, for less-weapons intensive systems first,” Deshpande admitted. However, even these conditions leave huge opportunities open for private players. “This can take a lot of pressure off defence PSUs.”

This year is set to be a very important one for the Kattupalli Shipyard, which possesses a unique shiplift system that only a handful can boast of having globally. “There are around four important Naval projects in the pipeline for this year — this is a big year for naval shipbuilding,” said Kannan. {Any idea what these 4 projects are? The ones mentioned below are for the CG}

L&T Shipbuilding is already busy with other defence contracts. The Indian Coast Guard has mandated the building of seven offshore patrol vessels (OPV) of which two will be launched in the second half of the year. It has also launched 32 of the 54 interceptor boats that the Coast Guard has ordered and is also working on orders from the Vietnamese Navy for coastal vessels.

The yard could also become a major refit destination, especially for vessels it builds. The yard has already done four refits during the 2016-17 financial year and expects to see substantial business from the refit/repair business too.

Key points
  1. According to L&T Shipbuilding, the FDN-2 dock can repair/refit any of the Indian Navy’s vessels, except for aircraft carriers and tankers.
  2. The dock has been designed and built entirely in-house. Except for some sections which the Navy had specified, everything else has been made and built by L&T. “Even submarines can be serviced in the FDN-2. The dock can manage either one large ship, or even two small ships, totalling up to 8,000 tonnes. Aircraft carriers and tankers are classes of vessels that are too big and require a dry dock,” Vice Admiral (Retd) B Kannan, MD & CEO, L&T Shipbuilding, pointed out.
  3. As per tradition, the dock was officially launched by Anjali, wife of Navy’s Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, Vice Admiral DM Deshpande, and will undergo several trials in the next few weeks before being delivered to the Indian Navy at Port Blair.
  4. “We expect the project to be delivered within schedule this year,” said JD Patil, senior executive vice president, L&T. The level of indigenisation achieved is also a major plus for the Navy, Patil pointed out.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by jamwal »

https://www.facebook.com/Livefist/photo ... =3&theater
LiveFistImage


The sum total of HAL's achievements at #PAS17! Not running them down and I'm aware that we give our people the wrong end of the stick often, but is receiving a 'price catalogue' an event?

This photograph is actually representative of the disappointingly poor levels of initiative and activity by HAL right through the show. The DRDO missed the show itself (they didn't prepare in time, by Dr S. Christopher's own admission) while HAL's lacklustre aircraft-less presence cruised invisibly through the show. No buzz at a show pretty much tailored for new aircraft to show off a little.

The reason we're particularly riled is that we went to the HAL chalet literally every day hoping for a way to support and report on Indian activity, opportunities and presence. But came away with nothing. One would have imagined that HAL, which enters a new existential phase with private sector competition under the strategic partnership policy, would be sitting up now, with its best foot forward. This isn't for a moment to suggest that the business of developing and building aircraft needs to be a hoopla. But if you've decided to be at one of the world's most prestigious defence trade events, being seen and spoken about is supposed to be part of the splash.

Other then teams of grinning Russians happy to pass on their price lists to a locked-in HAL, the only other highlight at the company's chalet is understood to have been some specially procured biryani on the day dignitaries from the Indian Embassy in Paris dropped by along with a delegation from India, including MoD officials who organise the Aero India show.

The Paris show could have been a terrific playground to showcase the Light Combat Helicopter, the Rudra and perhaps even the LUH. The LCA, which had a magnificent show at the 2017 Aero India would have been a perfect fit at Le Bourget, both for flying and as a static.

This was our first visit to the Le Bourget show. We noticed the smallest companies, with nothing more than mock-ups of their aircraft and the shirts on their backs, make a splash. It didn't seem to us like HAL had any excuses not to attempt showcasing itself and India, especially given that it is particularly armed at this time to do so. No excuses.

What HAL did have was no more than a wrongly labelled poster at an expensive chalet.

And biryani.
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Post by jayasimha »

wonderful e-book on Dr. KALAM in DRDO website

A journey to excellence

https://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/pub/ebooks ... tml#page/1
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by SSridhar »

Automated border patrolling: A CRON dream that’s about 5 years away - Jessu John, Business Line
Defence-focussed IoT start-up CRON Systems believes that fully automated border security is only about five years away. It has completed a pilot project with India’s Border Security Force and is preparing for its first supply orders over the next few months.

Against odds

Tushar Chhabra, co-founder and CEO, CRON Systems, says that even if the government had provided support or incentives for innovations in defence available earlier, not many start-ups were ready to take advantage. This also affected how much angel funding was available for innovations in the sector.

Fortunately for CRON, it found an early believer in YourNest, an early-stage investment firm. More recently, CRON partnered with Israeli company Automotive Robotic Industry Ltd (ARI) for integrated border security solutions.

A more fundamental problem – skill shortage among engineers in key technology areas – faces technology start-ups hoping to serve the defence industry. So while CRON’s employee count in India is 38, its founders see value in basing R&D work elsewhere.

When we look at forward-looking technologies, people with experience in India are out of touch with what is happening in the world. We definitely want to keep our production and assembly in India… (but) our research and development will have to be in California. This will increase the burn for us, but it’s something we’re expecting,” says Chhabra.

Game-changing tech

CRON sees IoT applications in defence achieving what no one had imagined. Reduction of the number of lives that are lost at borders across the world and potential returns on investment for what may now be seen as expensive products will make fully automated border patrol a “game-changer”.

“Most of the products designed around the international market are ineffective in the Indian scenario and fail to solve our problems. Spending millions to get international organisations interested in solving our problems will wipe out the probability of us having our own industry,” says Chhabra.

Along with its partner ARI, CRON is working on projects like a “completely autonomous laser wall” at Germany’s Munich airport. The company is likely to partner with a major defence truck manufacturer. While its products and solutions find wider scope, its R&D centre in California will focus on envisioning what the company will be working on five years from now.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by srai »

jamwal wrote:https://www.facebook.com/Livefist/photo ... =3&theater
LiveFist...
The sum total of HAL's achievements at #PAS17! Not running them down and I'm aware that we give our people the wrong end of the stick often, but is receiving a 'price catalogue' an event?

This photograph is actually representative of the disappointingly poor levels of initiative and activity by HAL right through the show. The DRDO missed the show itself (they didn't prepare in time, by Dr S. Christopher's own admission) while HAL's lacklustre aircraft-less presence cruised invisibly through the show. No buzz at a show pretty much tailored for new aircraft to show off a little.

The reason we're particularly riled is that we went to the HAL chalet literally every day hoping for a way to support and report on Indian activity, opportunities and presence. But came away with nothing. One would have imagined that HAL, which enters a new existential phase with private sector competition under the strategic partnership policy, would be sitting up now, with its best foot forward. This isn't for a moment to suggest that the business of developing and building aircraft needs to be a hoopla. But if you've decided to be at one of the world's most prestigious defence trade events, being seen and spoken about is supposed to be part of the splash.

...

The Paris show could have been a terrific playground to showcase the Light Combat Helicopter, the Rudra and perhaps even the LUH. The LCA, which had a magnificent show at the 2017 Aero India would have been a perfect fit at Le Bourget, both for flying and as a static.

This was our first visit to the Le Bourget show. We noticed the smallest companies, with nothing more than mock-ups of their aircraft and the shirts on their backs, make a splash. It didn't seem to us like HAL had any excuses not to attempt showcasing itself and India, especially given that it is particularly armed at this time to do so. No excuses.

...
Public-sector companies, world-over, are poor communicators. They don't either have marketing & sales departments or spend very little on them. To win hearts and minds and sell their products (even within their own government clients), they need to spend on marketing. Hire PR firms.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by tsarkar »

srai wrote:
Public-sector companies, world-over, are poor communicators. They don't either have marketing & sales departments or spend very little on them. To win hearts and minds and sell their products (even within their own government clients), they need to spend on marketing. Hire PR firms.
Errr, srai, did you read my post in the Miscellaneous Photos thread? There is a marketing budget, but that goes into biryani and travel, hotel & sightseeing expenses of hordes of staff.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by A Sharma »

'Insulting question led to planning of PoK surgical strikes'

The Swathi Weapon Locating Radar, developed by the DRDO, was used first in September 2016 to locate "firing units" of Pakistani Army, though the system was inducted officially three months later, Parrikar said.

Thanks to this Radar, forty firing units of Pakistani Army were destroyed, he added.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by ramana »

A Sharma wrote:'Insulting question led to planning of PoK surgical strikes'

The Swathi Weapon Locating Radar, developed by the DRDO, was used first in September 2016 to locate "firing units" of Pakistani Army, though the system was inducted officially three months later, Parrikar said.

Thanks to this Radar, forty firing units of Pakistani Army were destroyed, he added.
Awesome.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by ArjunPandit »

A Sharma wrote:'Insulting question led to planning of PoK surgical strikes'

The Swathi Weapon Locating Radar, developed by the DRDO, was used first in September 2016 to locate "firing units" of Pakistani Army, though the system was inducted officially three months later, Parrikar said.

Thanks to this Radar, forty firing units of Pakistani Army were destroyed, he added.
Has anyone asked MP/AJ/RR insulting question about China so far?
Jokes aside, that is the advantage of courage/vision and planning and keeping mouth shut.
Additional troops were trained. Equipment was procured on priority basis," he said.
With the way things are evolving on eastern sector, I am quite sure,
1. things have percolated there too.
2. Also, given our past experience of china worst would have been gamed. To determine immediate response and long term path to a more robust response.
3. Could it be the emergency procurements were mirrors/smoke for MSC?
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Post by Austin »

Lithium-ion batteries, future of weapon systems

Lithium-ion batteries will replace all batteries in the defence and space sector. It is the future of battery technology and set to replace the lead-acid models, said Chairman of DRDO and Secretary of Department of Defence R&D Dr. S. Chirstopher here on Saturday.

Delivering the inaugural address at the one-day workshop on ‘Indigenous lithium-ion batteries for special applications’ organised by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), he said innovation was the buzzword and “we have to innovate to make best use of the available technology.”

Introducing the technology to the participants, Dr. O.R. Nandagopan, Director NSTL, said development of the batteries was at an advanced stage at the NSTL and it would be rolled out sometime in 2019.

According to Dr. Nandagopan, cell phones had revolutionised the use and need of lithium-ion batteries and in India it was in the development stage. A. Srinivas Kumar, Technology Director, Battery and Explosives, NSTL, pointed out that R&D in this field was the need of the hour to reduce the dependency on imports. Dr. Sameer Kamat, Director General, Naval Systems and Materials, pointed out that indigenous development was important.

Key component


Rear Admiral V. Srinivas, Flag Officer, Submarines, ENC, said batteries were a key component in all variants of submarines be it the latest Scorpene or the nuclear-powered Arihant class of submarines. “Till now we have been using the lead-acid variant of batteries and we need to migrate to the lithium-ion type for their high energy and high power density capability. This variant of batteries will allow us to lie deeper for a longer period,” he said.

Delivering the keynote address, A.K. Shukla from IISC-Bangalore, highlighted the pros and cons of the lithium-ion batteries and urged the R&D to focus on quality, as they were susceptible to explosions.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Singha »

Achtung bitte

I was at a party today where a young french lady had come with her friend. after the usual introductions, I used the opportunity to ask a question bugging me for so long - "how is that sarkari french orgs like airbus , dassault, snecma , mbda et al have been delivering world class products for decades" ? while we struggle here to run sarkari strategic orgs effectively

she said the francisi sarkar has financial stakes in these cos due to strategic nature of the tech, and funds them as needed BUT they are essentially run as private sector orgs with no sarkari interference/rules/payscales/unionbazi etc. so just like any good private org, they are no different from the flexibility that boeing or lockheed gets.

she knew about ISRO and came back at me saying isro may be sarkari but its respected worldwide as a org and shows that non-interference and good leadership can make things happen.

so that conversation solved one little mystery for me.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Austin »

Defence Minister releases Booklet highlighting efforts to achieve Self-Reliance in Defence Production
Defence Minister Shri Arun Jaitley released a booklet here today highlighting efforts made by Department of Defence Production in the last three years in pursuance of self-reliance in defence sector. It is a compilation of the achievements of the Department of Defence Production in the field of indigenous production of weapon systems/platforms and policy initiatives undertaken in the past three years.

Ever since the launch of ‘Make in India’ initiative in September 2014, the focus has been to improve the business environment by easing processes to do business, encourage participation of Indian public and private sectors in defence production and promote innovation and indigenous development of equipment and weapon platforms.

The booklet mentions a number of policy initiatives which have been taken by the Department of Defence Production. These are relaxation in Foreign Direct Investment policy, providing exchange rate variation protection to domestic industry, level-playing field to private sector in terms of excise duty/custom duty at par with public sector, liberalising licensing policy and extending the validity of industrial licensing to 15 years, streamlining defence offset guidelines and restoring services as an avenue for discharge of offsets. It also includes facilitating exports by issuing NOC online, hosting procedure for issue of NOC and list of military stores in public domain besides doing away with end-user certificate, revising make procedure to promote design and development, promulgating green channel policy, categorising certain Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) products as non-core, aligning payment terms of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), etc. It also mentions about ‘Make in India’ portal for defence production which is a very industry-friendly website covering all policy procedural issues.

The booklet also mentions that Ordnance Factories and DPSUs, working under the administrative control of Department of Defence Production, have not only enhanced their production from ₹ 44,000/- crore to ₹ 56,000/- crore but have also delivered many state-of-the-art platforms to the Armed Forces, including Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’, Surface to Air Missile System ‘ Akash’ . During the last three years, 128 industrial licences have been issued.

Other highlights are, all naval ships and submarines on order are being constructed in Indian shipyards and percentage of capital procurement from Indian vendors has gone up from 47 to 61 in the last three years.

A number of steps are being taken to augment production capacity by DPSUs, such as infrastructure building for Mine Counter Measure Vessel at Goa Shipyard Ltd., new helicopter manufacturing facility at Tumakuru, second production line for Dhruv at Kanpur, manufacturing capacity for T-90 and PINAKA Rockets and manufacturing facilities for Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) at Ibrahimpatnam, Hyderabad.
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vina
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by vina »

Singha wrote:Achtung bitte

I was at a party today where a young french lady had come with her friend. after the usual introductions, I used the opportunity to ask a question bugging me for so long - "how is that sarkari french orgs like airbus , dassault, snecma , mbda et al have been delivering world class products for decades" ? while we struggle here to run sarkari strategic orgs effectively

she said the francisi sarkar has financial stakes in these cos due to strategic nature of the tech, and funds them as needed BUT they are essentially run as private sector orgs with no sarkari interference/rules/payscales/unionbazi etc. so just like any good private org, they are no different from the flexibility that boeing or lockheed gets.

she knew about ISRO and came back at me saying isro may be sarkari but its respected worldwide as a org and shows that non-interference and good leadership can make things happen.

so that conversation solved one little mystery for me.
La Mademoiselle est fausse. Ce n'est pas vrai.
I have personally dealt with having to retrench and let go of folks employed in France. The union /vunion/ stuff is orders more difficult in France. The French have a far higher industrial base than us, are far richer and that is what works. They can afford funding and spending on those kind of things. Not us. That is the fundamental difference.

If anyone says that French companies are run like Private Sector, it is not wholly true. Yes, the managers have greater "autonomy" , but big strategy calls are by the Govt and Les Macaques (the baboons) who work for the Govt. The things you talked about, ESPECIALLY are severely controlled by the Govt.

Firstly, they are NOT "Sarkari" orgs, but Private Orgs, with huge amount of govt control and indeed support. The trouble in India started because the Govt decided to directly own and run things via the Baboons because it will be easier to dole out pelf and patronage directly and can be translated into votes.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Singha »

we are not in disagreement here. the thing is they go to the peaks of EADS and Airbus and Ariane still under this govt strategic control/golden share and govt funding from the 1950s onward perhaps....their higher industrial base also surely was built up under this system only.

so its not that govt owned or golden shared orgs cannot deliver- eg isro itself, and some labs of drdo like rci .... but i think they need to be freed from Govt payscales and the infamous govt tendering and budgeting process and be given the budget and told to hire/train people from anywhere as they see fit (incl senior lateral hires) and colloborate/buy as they see fit. the goi can retain golden share and have veto on stake sales or they can remain as unlisted orgs working for govt only.

just procuring foreign or pvt sector help whether human or materials will likely come down from years to months timeframe without moving through tables in MOD :|

the country has grown up and no longer needs a headmaster in delhi.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by JayS »

Singha wrote:Achtung bitte

I was at a party today where a young french lady had come with her friend. after the usual introductions, I used the opportunity to ask a question bugging me for so long - "how is that sarkari french orgs like airbus , dassault, snecma , mbda et al have been delivering world class products for decades" ? while we struggle here to run sarkari strategic orgs effectively

she said the francisi sarkar has financial stakes in these cos due to strategic nature of the tech, and funds them as needed BUT they are essentially run as private sector orgs with no sarkari interference/rules/payscales/unionbazi etc. so just like any good private org, they are no different from the flexibility that boeing or lockheed gets.

she knew about ISRO and came back at me saying isro may be sarkari but its respected worldwide as a org and shows that non-interference and good leadership can make things happen.

so that conversation solved one little mystery for me.
I have been advocating precisely this thing for Indian PSUs (HAL for example) - Full autonomy in administrative and economic decisions and freedom from shackles of babudom/matridom. IMO it is absolutely un-necessary to sell a PSU to make it work. And as correctly pointed out ISRO is already an example that we have which proves that minimum interference from babudom and autonomy can work wonders. It doesn't really matter whether GOI owns a company or not. If they allow the company to work independently just like any pvt company, there is no reason why it cannot succeed.

Given the crony capitalist nature of existing pvt companies, I would like to have at least one GOI owned alternative in every key sectors which competes with pvt companies like a pvt company, but focuses more on maintaining quality rather than just sucking out blood from customers. So that citizens are not left to the mercy of capitalists for key facilities/services. At the same time autonomy would ensure we don't also become an communist system either which is even worse than crony capitalism. I always felt India needs something in between and I feel GOI owned fully autonomous organisations are the way to go. Neither be they given more privileges than other private entities such as bailing out for gross inefficiency or failures, nor be bogged downed by unnecessary baggage that comes with being a government entity such as job security, caste based reservation, unions, dictated pay structure or having to deal with wishes and whims of babudom/mantridom.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by pandyan »

On the other hand, we have eurofighter example that shows what can go wrong in this setup. They have the same freedom as dassault and other french companies. Most likely French armed forces and industry better working relationship and cross-domain expertise???
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-austri ... bus-2017-7
Austria wants to end its Eurofighter jet program early and replace it with a cheaper alternative fleet of aircraft leased from another government, its defense minister said on Friday, amid a legal battle over the jets with Airbus.
JayS
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by JayS »

pandyan wrote:On the other hand, we have eurofighter example that shows what can go wrong in this setup. They have the same freedom as dassault and other french companies. Most likely French armed forces and industry better working relationship and cross-domain expertise???
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-austri ... bus-2017-7
Austria wants to end its Eurofighter jet program early and replace it with a cheaper alternative fleet of aircraft leased from another government, its defense minister said on Friday, amid a legal battle over the jets with Airbus.
Eurofighter or any such project is at a disadvantage due to the tussle between multiple countries/government. Too many cooks generally spoil the food. I don't think this particular example is germane here.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Karan M »

This is the link. Many interesting snippets, especially the HAL portion (26 Su-30s delivered), and BEL (17 TCR). BEL is also developing a GCS for the MBT segment. Finally. With the GCS from BEL and GMS advancements from DRDO/BEL, we would have moved away from 2 critical import areas for the Arjun.
http://ddpmod.gov.in/e-book
Austin wrote:Defence Minister releases Booklet highlighting efforts to achieve Self-Reliance in Defence Production
Defence Minister Shri Arun Jaitley released a booklet here today highlighting efforts made by Department of Defence Production in the last three years in pursuance of self-reliance in defence sector. It is a compilation of the achievements of the Department of Defence Production in the field of indigenous production of weapon systems/platforms and policy initiatives undertaken in the past three years.

Ever since the launch of ‘Make in India’ initiative in September 2014, the focus has been to improve the business environment by easing processes to do business, encourage participation of Indian public and private sectors in defence production and promote innovation and indigenous development of equipment and weapon platforms.

The booklet mentions a number of policy initiatives which have been taken by the Department of Defence Production. These are relaxation in Foreign Direct Investment policy, providing exchange rate variation protection to domestic industry, level-playing field to private sector in terms of excise duty/custom duty at par with public sector, liberalising licensing policy and extending the validity of industrial licensing to 15 years, streamlining defence offset guidelines and restoring services as an avenue for discharge of offsets. It also includes facilitating exports by issuing NOC online, hosting procedure for issue of NOC and list of military stores in public domain besides doing away with end-user certificate, revising make procedure to promote design and development, promulgating green channel policy, categorising certain Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) products as non-core, aligning payment terms of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), etc. It also mentions about ‘Make in India’ portal for defence production which is a very industry-friendly website covering all policy procedural issues.

The booklet also mentions that Ordnance Factories and DPSUs, working under the administrative control of Department of Defence Production, have not only enhanced their production from ₹ 44,000/- crore to ₹ 56,000/- crore but have also delivered many state-of-the-art platforms to the Armed Forces, including Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’, Surface to Air Missile System ‘ Akash’ . During the last three years, 128 industrial licences have been issued.

Other highlights are, all naval ships and submarines on order are being constructed in Indian shipyards and percentage of capital procurement from Indian vendors has gone up from 47 to 61 in the last three years.

A number of steps are being taken to augment production capacity by DPSUs, such as infrastructure building for Mine Counter Measure Vessel at Goa Shipyard Ltd., new helicopter manufacturing facility at Tumakuru, second production line for Dhruv at Kanpur, manufacturing capacity for T-90 and PINAKA Rockets and manufacturing facilities for Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) at Ibrahimpatnam, Hyderabad.
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Re: India's R&D in Defence DRDO, PSUs and Private Sector

Post by Karan M »

In two years, BEML claims to have indigenized 84% of the aggregates for TATRA trucks. If true and not more fudging via imports and repainting by a supplier and then onwards to BEML, it only shows the depth of local expertise available in India & that we were deliberately importing unecessarily in years past.
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