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

[Rakesh]

https://x.com/alpha_defense/status/1775876240601387134 ---> JUST IN: 𝙃𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙇𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 soon to start the 𝙁𝙡𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙀𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 DRDO's 𝙄𝙍𝙎𝙏 𝙎𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢. The system will be tested on a 𝗛𝗮𝘄𝗸𝗲𝗿-𝟴𝟬𝟬 aircraft and then from a 𝗟-𝟯𝟵 aircraft.

[ramana]

DRDO Tech Focus on Small arms and Ammo.

https://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/sites/defa ... t_2021.pdf

[srai]

^^^
IA not interested!

Time to arm paramilitaries, CPRF and local police. That combined will be more volume than IA requirements.

[ramana]

Dissent on reforming DRDO

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/be ... d93b8cc0cc

[tandav]

https://idrw.org/lt-touts-record-breaki ... velopment/

L&T develops light tank for Indian Army after encountering Chinese light tanks along the LAC.

While the development speed is good, I am disappointed on how reactive the Indian Armed Forces are to emerging threats.

[sanjayc]

^^ Agree. Before encountering actual Chinese light tanks, couldn't the Indian army envision on its own the need for a light tank in the mountains? They actually had to face the Chinese tanks before realizing they also need one?

[Prem Kumar]

^^ Its worse than that. We actually do have experience on the effectiveness of light tanks in Ladakh in 1962!!. Our AMX light tanks were very effective against the Chinese in Chushul

Our Generals don't learn lessons even from our own experiences! The artillery procurement disaster even after their effectiveness was brilliantly demonstrated in Kargil 20+ years ago, is another example

War is too important to be left to our Generals

[ramana]

MOD report 2022-23

https://mod.gov.in/sites/default/files/ ... %20LOW.pdf

[VinodTK]

The government’s intent to restructure and rejig India’s premier defence research monolith, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is now evident. A nine-member committee that was appointed to assess and revamp the DRDO operations has already submitted its report. The committee was tasked with generating recommendations to review and redefine the department’s role and align it with India’s futuristic technological requirements in the defence domain. Lt Gen Subrata Saha (retd), who previously served as Deputy Chief of Army Staff, who had also initiated several reforms within the military as well as outside after superannuation and someone who is closely associated with the development and progress of the Indian defence industry was one of the members of the committee. In this conversation with Editor-in-Chief Nitin Gokhale, Editor-in-Chief of BharatShakti Gen Saha has made several suggestions. He said, “DRDO has to reform itself and move with times as these reforms will take DRDO to the next level to place in the broader defence R&D ecosystem”. Watch this interview for more insights into the reforms initiated for DRDO and the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) restructuring.

[ramana]

Dated but relevant article;
https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news ... aric-bombs

India's state-run Munitions India Limited (MIL) will start the mass production and supply of 1,000 lb thermobaric bombs from 2023, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said at the Aero India 2023 show, which concluded on 17 February.

An official from the DRDO's High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) told Janes that the technology transfer to produce the 1,000 lb thermobaric bomb has been transferred to the MIL, which is also an agency under the DRDO. An initial order of 500 units from the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be delivered by the end of 2023, he said.

HEMRL started the development of the 1,000 lb thermobaric bomb in 2018. The munition has been qualified in flight tests, including a demonstration of its blast capability, an HEMRL official said.

The weapon uses a British 1,000 lb general-purpose (GP) bomb casing design and has 10-inch (Russian) and 14-inch (NATO) lug spacing to be carried on fighter aircraft, including the IAF's Su-30MKI.

With the use of the existing casing design, HEMRL maintained the same weapons mass properties, which enabled fast-tracked development. The munition also features ‘metalised enhanced blast explosive' filling, which is based on the polymer-bonded explosive class of energetic composition with enhanced energetics.

The bomb is effective against soft and medium-hard targets in an open or confined environment. It is credited with a higher blast impulse (more than 30%) and long-duration thermal effects (>1,600º C, >400 ms) in comparison with an identical class of conventional high-explosive munitions. The munition has a shelf life of 20 years.

[ramana]

https://ddpdoo.gov.in/product/products/ ... -mk-11-he-

data on 1000 lb MK11

[Nikhil_Naya]

Why is this not being discussed - and did we all miss an important point

https://mazagondock.in/images/pdf/Discl ... 2024.pdf

Blah blah...

To mark this occasion of immense significance, MDL today organized a series of events
including inauguration of adjacent land acquired from MPA, launch of prototype of indigenous
midget submarine ‘Arowana’, commissioning of Solar Electric Hybrid boat, release of MDL’s
Commemorative Coin marks the 250 years and conducting a daylong technical seminar.

Blah blah...

MDL has successfully completed platform design and hull of the midget submarine named
‘Arowana’ which was launched by Defence Secretary today. MDL has been building
submarines since 1984 with foreign design. MDL has also commenced the design and
development of an indigenous conventional submarine. Midget Submarine is being developed
as a proof of concept. The team is parallely working on development of design of full scale
conventional submarine by 2028.

Key sentence - " MDL has also commenced the design and development of an indigenous conventional submarine"

That last highlighted sentence - development of design of - confusing on purpose?

With Arowana - the midget submarine proto launch and this sentence and the 'Three' sub image on g-maps (Vishakhapatanam), are we moving to a larger 'Atmanirbhar' sub fleet? SSN/SSBN for the deeper seas and Smaller Diesel/ Electric and/or AIP for the littorals/ EEZ/ BoB/Ar. Sea?

edit - Adm. Rakesh has already posted in the acquisitions thread...but still...interesting developments?