Army Likely To Buy 6 Indigenous Weapon-Locating
Swathi Radars For Over 400 Crore
In a boost to Make in India in the defence sector, six more Swathi weapon-locating radars developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are likely to be procured for Indian Army. The case for acquisition of six Swathi weapon-locating radars worth over ₹ 400 crore is scheduled to be taken up in a defence ministry meeting likely to be held tomorrow, defence sources said. The weapon-locating radars developed by the DRDO and built by Bharat Electronics Limited had achieved major success as they were supplied to a foreign country also. The Swathi weapon-locating radars will provide fast, automatic and accurate location of enemy weapons like mortars, shells and rockets in 50-kilometre range. The radar can simultaneously detect multiple projectiles fired from different weapons at different locations. The Indian Army has been using the radars for its operations along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. The system was given for trial to Army in 2018. Indian Army has been giving a major push to the indigenisation and has given orders for many equipment like self-propelled artillery guns to Indian vendors
Manufacture of steam generator for 5th Kudankulam n-plant begins
Russia's integrated nuclear power company, Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation on Tuesday said it has started manufacturing a set of steam generators for the fifth 1,000 MW atomic power plant to be set up in Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. India's atomic power company, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), is building four more plants of 1,000 MW each in Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district -- Units 3,4,5 and 6. The first two units of similar power generation capacity had gone on stream long back and the construction of 3rd and 4th units are underway. According to Rosatom, machining of the shells of the vessel and large nozzles, which are the parts of the steam generator have been completed. Welding work is underway on the shells of the steam generator vessel. Rosatom has already manufactured and shipped two sets of steam generators for the third and fourth units coming up at Kudankulam. The steam generator belongs to the products of the first class of safety. The diameter is more than four metres, the length of the apparatus is about 15 metres. The weight of the equipment is 340 tons. The vessel of the steam generator is a horizontal cylindrical vessel with two elliptical heads, in the middle part of which there are headers for the supply and removal of the hot coolant. In the upper part of the vessel, there is a space for steam, and the heat exchange surface which consists of 11,000 stainless pipes is in the lower part of the steam generator vessel. The pipes are 16 mm in diameter and 10 to 14 meters long. The ends of the pipes are fixed in two headers. The equipment of one power unit includes four steam generators.
OFT’s ‘stabilized remote-controlled gun’ launched
The Ordnance Factory of Tiruchirappalli (OFT) has launched an indigenously manufactured weapon named stabilized remote controlled gun (SRCG). A dedicated assembly and testing facility were also opened for manufacturing the weapon here. Defence minister Rajnath Singh launched the weapon through video-conferencing on Monday as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (self-reliant India mission). OFT officials said the SRCG fitted with 12.7mm M2 NATO standard machine gun, is designed for marine applications.It will be mounted on warships and patrol boats and can remotely engage small boats, skiff and other small crafts with high accuracy both during day and night. “Equipped with sensors, the weapon has an automatic target tracking capacity. The gun can be fired manually even in case of malfunction,” C Ariya Sakthi, works manager, OFT told TOI. At an estimated cost of Rs 2.8 crore, the assembly and testing facility produces the weapon for Indian Navy and Coast Guard. The indigenous manufacturing will save Rs 167 crore, officials said. The new weapon will provide a business opportunity for Rs 255 crore per annum for the next four years to OFT and other sister factories. While the gun will be manufactured in Trichy, a contract is placed by integrated headquarters, ministry of defence on Elbit Systems, Israel for transfer of technology (ToT) for SRCG.
Govt Approves 106 Basic Trainer Aircraft for IAF
The defence ministry on Tuesday approved military
procurement worth Rs 8,722 crore including 106 basic trainer aircraft for the
Indian Air Force, officials said. They said the basic trainer aircraft named
HTT-40 will be procured from state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics
Limited (HAL). The procurement proposals were approved by the Defence
Acquisition Council (DAC), the defence ministry’s highest decision making body
on procurement. The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. In a
statement, the defence ministry said the DAC also accorded approvals that are
likely to speed up the procurement of AK-203 rifles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV) “upgrades”. Under the UAV upgrade project, the government is likely to
arm some of them with laser-guided bombs and precision-guided munitions. On
procurement of basic trainer jets, it said the certification process for the
HTT-40 aircraft of the HAL is underway. “Post certification 70 basic trainer
aircraft will be initially procured from HAL and balance 36 after
operationalisation of HTT-40 fleet in IAF,” it said in a statement. It said the
DAC also approved procurement of an upgraded version of Super Rapid Gun Mount
(SRGM) which is fitted as the main gun onboard the warships of the Indian Navy
and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). “The upgraded version of SRGM has enhanced
capability to perform against fast manoeuvring targets like missiles and fast
attack crafts and increase the maximum engagement range,” the ministry said. It
said the DAC also approved procurement of 125 mm APFSDS (Armour Piercing Fin
Stabilized Discarding Sabot) ammunition for Indian Army as a ‘design and
development case’. “The ammunition being procured will have a 70 per cent
indigenous content,” it said.
Skyroot India’s first private company tests upper-stage rocket engine
Aerospace startup Skyroot Aerospace has successfully test fired an upper-stage rocket engine, becoming the first Indian private company to demonstrate the capability to build a homegrown rocket engine. The 3-D printed rocket engine – Raman, named after Nobel laureate CV Raman – has fewer moving parts and weighs less than half of conventional rocket engines with a similar capacity. The Hyderabad-headquartered firm, backed by CureFit founders Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, and Solar Industries, claimed that the engine was capable of multiple restarts, enabling the launch vehicle to insert various satellites into multiple orbits in a single mission. It will conduct more tests of the Raman engine over the next six months. Founded by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, both former scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), Skyroot plans to build a family of rockets. The first rocket, which can hurl satellites of 250-700 kgs into a lower earth orbit, is expected to be launched by end-2021. “We demonstrated India’s first 100% 3D-printed bi-propellant liquid rocket engine injector. Compared to traditional manufacturing, this reduced the overall mass by 50%, reduced the total number of components and lead time by 80%,” Chandana said. The company has designed in-house software for launch vehicle guidance, navigation, and control functions, and is testing onboard its avionics modules. Skyroot had so far raised 31.5 crore from investors to develop a family of rockets named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space programme, with the capability to launch 250-700 kg satellites into low-earth orbit. The space startup is now in talks to raise 90 crore by mid-2021. Over the years, India has emerged a global hub to launch small satellites using the polar satellite launch vehicles (Pslv). As the country opens its space sector to private players, startups such as Skyroot, Agnikul and Bellatrix are building small launchers, with 3-D printed engines, hoping to bring down the cost of launching satellites and capturing a bigger pie of the global small satellite launch market. Research firm Frost & Sullivan expects more than 10,000 small satellites to be launched globally in the next decade. V Gnanagandhi, another former Isro scientist and a senior vice president at Skyroot, who is leading its liquid-propulsion team, said: “This test has qualified a unique monolithic design of injector with complex internal channels and demonstrated high performance for hypergolic rocket propellants.”
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