Mighty India Power

If the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is the heart of India’s nuclear deterrent, the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) in Hyderabad is its limbs and sinews. The ASL Director, Avinash Chander, takes us through a spotless assembly room, where technicians are bolting sensitive instruments into the nose of a giant Agni-3 missile. It is eerie; before long, this very missile will roar off a launch pad on Wheeler’s Island in Orissa. It will travel 350 km above the earth, re-enter the atmosphere at a speed of 5 kilometers per second, experiencing temperatures of 3000 degrees centigrade. But the scientists here are cheerfully confident of repeating last April’s success, and proving the missile’s ability to deliver a one-and-a-half-ton nuclear bomb to within 100 metres of a target 3000 kilometers away. And that is routine stuff, compared to what India’s Chief Controller of Missiles and Strategic Systems (CC-MSS), Dr VK Saraswat, has divulged to Business Standard. He says that ASL is now work...

At least 40 public and private companies across the country are closely involved in the making of the indigenous ballistic missile interceptors. They have already manufactured or assembled parts and sub-systems for the first trial that took place in Orissa on December 6, 2007, according to Dr V.K. Sarswat, Chief Controller R&D (Missiles & Strategic System) and Programme Director (Air Defence), Defence Research & Development Organisation Companies They include Bharat Electronics Ltd and Bharat Dynamics Ltd, Astra Microwave, ASL, VemTech and KelTech. “The integrated (and fully-tested defence shield system) will be operational in three years,” Dr Sarswat told a news meet here on Friday. System development The development of an intercept-and-destroy defence system got off-the-mark in 1982 and the first phase has proven that it can kill cruise or intercontinental ballistic missiles of the 2000-km class. Over the next two years, “we want to perfect this through some more trial...

After Russia back-pedalled on transferring technology for the production here of the T-90 main battle tank (MBT), a hiatus seems to have emerged over transferring "total" technology for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that Russia is jointly developing with India. "We have not got full technology for the transfer of the (missile's) engines," C.G. Krishnadas Nair, a former chairman of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), said at a seminar here that Defence Minister A.K. Antony inaugurated. "We must have access to total technology. This denial is a serious matter," Nair, who is the founder-chairman of Society of Defence Technologists (SODET), maintained. "No one should hold the other to ransom," he contended, clearly implying that Russia was holding back the technology for the missile's engine. SODET brings together technologists of defence public sector undertakings, ordnance factory boards and military inspection esta...

India has developed a two-layered ballistic missile defence system to counter enemy missiles. It has been configured with radars for long-range surveillance, tracking, command, control, communication and interception to destroy enemy ballistic missiles. The two-layered system, comprising “exo” and “endo” atmospheric interceptors, destroys incoming ballistic missiles at altitudes above 40 km and below 25 km, respectively. The exo-atmospheric interception was successfully tried on November 27 at an altitude of 48 km while the endo-atmospheric high supersonic missile (also called as AAD) was successfully put on trial in the first week of December. Another trial demonstrating the interception of a live ballistic missile was held on December 6 at an island near Orissa. The interceptors were developed at the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) in Bangalore at a cost of Rs.2,000 crore. Briefing the success story of the LRDE, an R and D establishment of the Defence Resear...

The flight test of the air version of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile will be conducted next year, A Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace has said. The induction of BrahMos missile into the Army and Navy was under progress and the production capability would be enhanced beyond 100 units a year, if needed, Pillai told reporters in Tiruchirapalli on Thursday. About 10 countries, including some developed nations, have evinced interest in having the missile. But, no decision has been taken yet to sell the missile to other countries, he said. A decision in this regard would be made jointly by India and Russia. The priority was to meet the demands of the three forces in the country, he said. An Indo-Russian team has finalised the preliminary specifications of the system for BrahMos-II with hypersonic speed. The new version would be developed in five years' time, he said. Pillai, who is also the Chief Controller(Research and Development) of D...

US Aeronautics major Lockheed Martin is in talks with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to collaborate in the development of a ballistic missile defence (BMD) system in the country. The latest move is in addition to the organisation’s ongoing programmes to develop an indigenous anti-missile system. Just about a month ago, India had successfully tested interceptor missiles. “We are in touch with DRDO officials. New Delhi could be looking for Washington’s help and that of other nations in building up crucial sub-systems for the BMD,” Lockheed Martin (Air and Missile Defense Strategic Initiatives) vice-president, Dennis D Cavin told ET. The company is developing the Patriot Advance Capability (PAC)-III anti-missile system for the US. Mr Cavin would fly to India next month to participate in the Defence Expo, and will meet V K Saraswat who is known as the father of Indian interceptor missile programme. “India could be looking at US help to develop ‘hit-to-kill...

India announced on Monday it had successfully launched an Israeli satellite overnight Sunday. Both Indian and Israeli space engineers were present at the launching of the TecSar synthetic aperture reconnaissance satellite, Israel's most advanced satellite yet. The satellite was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and some 80 minutes after launching the TecSar began transmitting signals. The satellite that weighs just under 300 kilograms has the ability to create images of objects on the earth day or night,and is not affected by cloudy weather conditions. According to reports, the TecSar satellite is capable of imaging with a resolution of up to 10 centimeters. According to reports, a decision to conduct the launching from India was decided several years ago during a visit by former Defense Ministry director general Amos Yaron. The launching is just one more component in the ever increasing cooperation between Israel and India, and there are plans to launch at least two more...

Lockheed Martin, a U.S. defense industry giant, has expressed an interest in helping India develop its own missile defense network, an Indian news agency said on Friday. India, a nuclear power, announced in December last year a final successful test of the Akash anti-ballistic missile under an ambitious plan to build a national missile shield. "Our doors are open for cooperation with India in the area of anti-ballistic missile defense," the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Dennis Cavin, Lockheed Martin's vice president for International Air and Missile Defense Business Development, as saying. Cavin is expected to visit New Delhi in February to discuss cooperation prospects with Vijay Kumar Saraswat, program director for ballistic missile development at the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). The company official said India could be interested in missile guidance technologies developed by the U.S. firm. Lockheed Martin's missile defense systems h...

Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam today unleashed an array of dreams in aeronautics and aerospace indsutry at the L.M.Katre memorial lecture he gave at the HAL here under the aegis of Aeronutical Society of India. He said robotics carried out by the scientists and engineers of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg for land and moon applications which has proved beyond doubt that India could greatly benefit from the 'empowered Human resources and a wide array infrastructure created for the purpose. Dr. Kalam said  "While I was in Carnegie Mellon University, I came to know about the development of Boss – A Robotic car developed by Carnegie Mellon University. This car won the 2007 Defense Advance Research Project Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge first place price of $2 million in the autonomous vehicle competition held in November 2007. This is the first time that autonomous (driverless) vehicles traversed suburban roads at speed with real traffic represented by 50 moving ...

harbour is a secret, completely enclosed facility known only as the Shipbuilding Centre (SBC). Inside this dry dock, nearly 50m below ground level, is a cylindrical black shape, which is as tall as a two-storey building and at 104 m in length, is longer than the Qutub Minar lying on its side. Technicians working on it confess to a surge of national pride: India’s first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine or SSBN is arguably its greatest engineering project. For over a quarter of a century, the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), smaller than the USS Alabama from Crimson Tide, has been among the most highly-classified government programmes, if not the most delayed. Officials still refuse to confirm the existence of the project or the sea-based ballistic missile. A decade after India came out of the nuclear closet in the sands of Pokhran, it has moved some tantalising steps closer to realising the third and possibly the toughest of the three legs of the triad enunciated in its ...

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is planning to set up the country's first dedicated facility for testing unmanned air vehicle (UAV) technologies near Chitradurga in Karnataka. Chitradurga lies close to Bangalore - home to a large number of defence and aerospace establishments - which weighed heavily in the DRDO's decision to set up the facility there. It is expected to cost Rs billion ($216 million) and become operational in the next five years. It is envisaged that the centre will be used to test small, micro, flapping-wing and long-range UAV designs. Significantly, the Chitradurga range is expected to be involved in the development of India's first medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV. The DRDO has to date developed two UAVs - Nishant and Lakshya - both of which have entered production. Lakshya, an aerial target system, is being used for DRDO missile tests. The Nishant, meanwhile, can fly continuously for up to six hours and photograph potential tar...

Akash, an indigenously developed medium-range surface-to-air missile system, has successfully completed test trials and is all set for induction into the defence forces, a top scientist of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said today. "We expect the clearance from Defence Acquisition Council in a couple of months. Once we get the go-ahead, the production will commence and the first set of missile systems will be delivered in three years time," Chief Controller, R&D, DRDO, Prahlada told reporters here. The Indian Air Force has already initiated the process, while the Army was expected to move the file soon, he said. The DRDO, which has developed the state-of-the-art multi-directional and multi-target missile with a range of 25 kms, is hopeful of getting Rs 5,000 crore worth business over the next years from Air Force and the Army. "After conducting seven successful flight tests for accurate guidance and consistent performance, we have conclus...

By 2010 India will have an indigenous ballistic missile defence system to intercept and destroy intermediate ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), a top defence official said here Monday.'We are developing a robust anti-missile defence system that will have high-speed interceptions for engaging ballistic missiles in the 5,000 km class and above. We have recently demonstrated the capability to handle such targets up to 2,000 to 2,500 km,' Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief controller V.K. Saraswat told IANS on the sidelines of the 95th Indian Science Congress.With an advanced integrated ballistic missile defence (BMD) system India joins the exclusive club of Israel, Russia and the US in developing and possessing the technology to attack and defend itself from any adversary in the region or beyond.'With our avowed policy of 'no-first use' with respect to nuclear weapons, we may not go on an attack mode des...

India will develop an indigenous defence system to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles by 2010, a defence official said. The system was currently being designed and would go on trial from 2009, said V.K. Saraswat, the chief controller of the Defence Research and Development Organisation. It would be capable of detecting, intercepting and destroying intermediate-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles from any country, he added on the sidelines of a science conference that ended Monday. "We are developing a robust anti-missile defence system that will have high-speed interceptions for engaging ballistic missiles in the 5,000-kilometre (3,000-mile) class and above," he said. India had recently shown it was able to handle targets in the class up to 2,000-2,500 kilometres, he added. The country would join Israel, Russia and the US in developing and possessing such technology once the system is rolled out. The defence system's tracking and fire control radars ...

India is slated to conduct trials of the next version of the ballistic missile with a strike range of more than 5000 km and the sophisticated hypersonic plane in 2009. It will also develop long-range, high speed interceptors that can strike down missiles fired from deep within the enemy territory. The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) chief controller of R&D in missile systems sciences, V K Saraswat speaking at a plenary session in the 95th Indian Science Congress on Monday said that plans are afoot to build a floating test range to launch missiles in the next three years. “ We are encouraged after our successful launch of Agri III. The next version of the long-range ballistic missile has been tentatively named as Agni III Plus and defence scientists are currently working on its design’, said Saraswat He said the DRDO will also test its indigenously developed hypersonic plane, which can be used as a reusable missile launcher. The vehicle, one which can launch miss...

There may be a few hiccups, political or otherwise, along the way but India and Israel will now 'further intensify' their already robust defence ties, which saw New Delhi do military business worth over a whopping $7 billion with Tel Aviv since the 1999 Kargil conflict. From man-portable miniature UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and advanced radars to missile systems and electronic warfare suites, the two nations have decided to focus on more and more joint R&D projects rather than just continue with a mere buyer-seller kind of relationship, said sources. This came at the end of the Indo-Israel joint working group (JWG) on defence, co-chaired by defence secretary Vijay Singh and his Israeli counterpart Brigadier-General (retired) Pinchas Buchris, on Monday and Tuesday. India, of course, is already Israel's largest defence customer, with purchases worth $1.5 billion in 2006 alone, displacing even the US to the second spot with $1 billion. The strategic ties with Israe...