TOP GUN: National honour for Tejas Test pilot Suneet

Express News Service
(City Express)

Grp Capt Suneet Krishna, a city-based Test pilot associated with the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas programme has been selected for this year's Dr V M Ghatage Award. This annual award – tipped as a prestigious one among the flying clan – is being given away by the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), New Delhi.

Suneet, currently working with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), is a seasoned Indian Air Force (IAF) Test pilot. According to sources in ADA, Suneet was posted to the Tejas programme in 2000. “He flew the chase aircraft when LCA first took to the skies in January 2001,” ADA sources said.

AeSI chose Suneet ahead of others for the award for his long-standing contribution to the Tejas programme. “Suneet has many milestones to his credit, including the first LCA Test pilot to cross 100 hours on various Tejas platforms. He is also among those who have logged maximum number of flying hours on Tejas,” ADA sources said. Suneet will receive the award during the AeSI annual general meeting scheduled to be held at Thiruvananthapuram on June 1.

On deputation from the IAF to the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC) of ADA till recently, sources say that Suneet is now part of ADA as a permanent Test pilot. “The AeSI award is a testimony to Suneet's tireless efforts in making Tejas a world-class flying machine. As a Test pilot, Suneet along with other team members have given many valuable inputs to make Tejas a completely pilot-friendly fighter. He has contributed in bringing out many modifications to the Tejas' cockpit over the years,” ADA chief P.S. Subramanyam told City Express.

According to AeSI officlas, Suneet was commissioned into the IAF as a fighter pilot in 1989. “He is a qualified pilot attack instructor and completed the Experimental Test Pilots course in 1999, and thereafter has continued to be directly associated with flight test activities as a Test pilot till date. He has had several tenures in various organizations carrying out flight test duties,” sources said.

With over 4500 hours of flying on of 35 types of aircraft, AeSI sources say that Suneet has the unique distinction of carrying out two first flights of Tejas fighter. “The award is to acknowledge his deep involvement in the flight research and development program, testing the prototype digital flight control system hardware and software. Suneet's skill and experience contributed across the realm of fixed wing flight test activities carried out in the country, covering all aspects of prototype, production and operational flight test,” sources said.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

RCI brain Kannan selected for AeSI's Swarna Jayanthi Award

By M A Athul

The AeSI has selected Mr Muthukrishnan Kannan of RCI for the prestigious Swarna Jayanthi Award for his outstanding contributions valuable contributions in the development of Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) of various class for missiles, aircrafts, ships and submarines. He has been the group head of INS division since 2010. He has also headed the INS team for BrahMos Cruise Missile and was the project lead for Indigenous Navigation Systems for Naval Ships.

In his present designation as Group Head, INS division he plays a pivotal role in many ongoing projects such as development of Ring Laser Gyro (RLG) based INS+GPS+GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) systems. The technology is used in Agni-iii, HAL Tejas, and Shaurya missile. He was also responsible for development, testing, performance evaluation and delivery of INS for Brahmos Missiles.

As a systems developer Kannan was responsible for the Development, testing, Performance Evaluation and Delivery of Navigation System for AD (AD-1 and AD-2 are being developed as intercept ballistic missiles with a range of 5000 kilometers) Mission as well as the Prototype System Development and Flight Performance Evaluation of the system. He was also involved He was the project leader for “Indigenous Navigation System for Naval War ships i.e. a system purpose is also to serve as a Master INS system for ship-launched versions of missiles.

Kannan passed B.E in electronics and communication from Madurai Kamraj University and M.E in avionics from Anna University and joined RCI (Research Center Imarat) on June 1997 with the designation a “scientist B”. He has been in RCI ever since. He became a “C” scientist in 2000, D grade scientist in 2004 and an E grade scientist in July 2008. The distinguished scientist also has a plethora of publications to his credit. A few of them are Quick Reaction Strap down INS for Brahmos, INS+GPS integrated system for canisterized missiles, Micro machined Accelerometer Systems. Some of his commendable achievements are the designing and development of the first DTG based integrated INS+SATNAV scheme & system (for Programme AD), which turned out to be the precursor for the other versions of Integrated INS+SATNAV systems developed for all the other strategic and tactical missile programmes of DRDO. Another achievement was the development of DTG based Quick Reaction INS for the Indo-Russian Joint Venture BrahMos missile project. He was also involved in periodic re- calibration of BrahMos INS.

Kannan Muthukrishnan has also received Agni award for excellence in self reliance for the year 2008 for contributions towards development of Navigation system for Air Defense (AD) missile as well as well as award of RCI for the year 2010.He is also a life member of Astronautical Society of India and Sensors Research Society.

athulmenath55@yahoo.com

(The writer is a first year PG student of Defence and Strategic Studies with Madras University currently on a 2-months’ internship with Tarmak007. His write-ups need not be news-breaks and in-depth in nature; hence should be seen as an ab initio effort by a budding defence journalist. The views expressed by Athul need not be that of Tarmak007.)