Future technologies must be propelled by power of today’s youth: DRDO

Read the report, here: bit.ly/2Z3pv69

DRDO pins hopes on target drone Abhyas

Read: https://bit.ly/2Y11htE

Tarmak Talking: HEAT Abhyas

Tarmak Talking with Nirbhay Missile Team | Part-1

Dear Tarmak folks!

Greetings! Here's the 7th edition of #TarmakTalking and we bring to you Team Nirbhay in a 2-part series. In this first part, we have two top scientists part of India's subsonic cruise missile development programme taking our questions. For the first time, we have incorporated questions from Tarmak followers in the final script. #TarmakTalking is brought to you by Inspired Indian Foundation®. (www.inspiredindianfoudation.org) and it is produced with the help of a few well-wishers who support India's Aerospace and Defence programme. Please do leave your feedback after watching this high-quality production. You could also write to anantha.ak@gmail.com or ak@billionbeats.

Sit back and enjoy #TarmakTalking! Thank You for being part of our inspiring missions. Part-2 will be released soon.

Jai Hind! 

Dr Anantha Krishnan M

+91 78997 78888 (WhatsApp)

The story, so far...
#TarmakTalking-6: https://bit.ly/2J1XCab
#TarmakTalking-5: https://bit.ly/2Gtig2p
#TarmakTalking-4: http://bit.do/TarmakTalking-Raj-Naray...
#TarmakTalking-3: http://bit.do/TarmakTalking-S-R-K-Nair
#TarmakTalking-2: http://bit.do/TarmakTalking-Dr-Kota
#TarmakTalking-1: http://bit.do/TarmakTalking-Team-Tejas

Under wraps for 31 months, DRDO’s top secret A-SAT mission codenamed ‘Project XSV-1’

India’s anti-satellite (A-SAT) mission was a top secret one, kept under wraps for nearly 31 months to be precise. Only a handful of scientists knew about it, which was codenamed ‘Project XSV-1.’ For the rest of team, it was another BMD (Ballistic Missile Defence) campaign, with some upgrades. None knew that a space strike or a ‘kinetic kill’ was in the offing! The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials were told to maintain ‘top secrecy’ about the project soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the go-ahead sometime in 2016. There were only six core members who knew what ‘Project XSV-1’ was all about. (The ‘SV’ apparently meant Shakti Vehicle and ‘1’ stood for the first mission.)

Read the story, here: https://bit.ly/2U48Ph0

(Posted by Team Billion Beats)

Mission Shakti: DRDO’s A-SAT missile hit Microsat-R in 168 secs!

Read the story, here: https://bit.ly/2OtGAT6

(Posted by Team Billion Beats)

Next-gen desi anti-radiation missile set for trials with passive seeker

By Anantha Krishnan M

Bengaluru: India’s maiden attempt to develop a New Generation Anti-Radiation Missile (NGARM) has finally picked up momentum. The scientists with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are warming up to undertake the pending trials of this state-of-the-art missile without further delays. Its user -- the Indian Air Force (IAF) -- feels that the DRDO must fast-track the project.

The missile will now be heading for a series of carriage and release flight trials. The carriage flight trials will be conducted to evaluate the performance of seekers against a wide range of targets. Subsequently, release flight missions will be planned to demonstrate the mid-course guidance and terminal guidance using seekers. 

Scientists tracking NGARM flightpath confirm that the next flight will be a ‘seeker performance evaluation’ one. A desi passive seeker will be onboard the missile during the next trial, while the test after that will have an active seeker as well. 

Trials of NGARM with both seekers together should be in July or August this year. 

Plans are also afoot to develop future variants of NGARM. It would mean upgrades with higher versions of software with the capability to handle larger variety of targets under various operational scenarios.

Full report, here: https://bit.ly/2Ok12ph

Tarmak007 Talking with Dr Kota Harinarayana

Hello folks!

Welcome to #Tarmak007Talking -- a news series aiming to get you an up-close with all heroes from India's inspiring aerospace and defence sector. This is the first edition of #Tarmak007Talking and we begin with Dr Kota Harinarayana, the man widely revered as the father of India's modern fighter jet programme.

In the days ahead, we shall bring you more heroes, including unsung as well, who have toiled hard to make India a vibrant aerospace and defence power. If your organisation or CEO or a team wants to be featured in #Tarmak007Talking, do write to anantha.ak@gmail.com or ak@billionbeats.in. This interview series will be a collaborative effort and currently, it is being supported by Inspired Indian Foundation®. (www.inspiredindianfoudation.org)

The production team consists of award-winning video editors, a young research group and a professional camera crew among others. Sit back and enjoy #Tarmak007Talking!

Jai Hind!

Anantha Krishnan M

Tessy Thomas appointed DRDO’s DG Aero; to head Tejas, Nirbhay, Rustom missions

By Anantha Krishnan M

http://english.mathrubhumi.com/

Bengaluru, May 29: Top missile scientist Dr Tessy Thomas has been appointed as the Director General, Aeronautical Systems (DG-Aero) of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). 

The appointment is on expected lines as Dr Tessy was selected as the top choice for the post a month back, to replace the current incumbent C P Ramanarayanan, who is set to retire on May 31. She will take charge on June 1.

Currently she is the Director of Advanced Systems Laboratories (ASL), Hyderabad. 

Dr Tessy, already celebrated as the first woman DRDO woman scientist to head any missile project, will be DRDO’s third DG (Aero) following the restructuring a couple of years back.

She also becomes DRDO’s third woman DG (technical stream), with J Manjula being the first, currently heading the Electronics and Communication Systems cluster.

Full report: bit.ly/2kxX4LW 

Video of latest Astra trials

Challakere ATR will be home for gen-next fighters, UCAVs

By Anantha Krishnan M

@Mathrubhumi

Challakere, May 28: The new address for testing India’s future manned and unmanned platforms will be: ATR, Co/DRDO, Voru Kaval village, Challakere taluka, Chitradurga District, Karnataka. From now on, fighter jets and unmanned platforms will jettison over the Challakere skies, undertaking missions to boost India’s military preparedness. 

Around 250-plus km from Bengaluru, the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) inaugurated today, will be soon home for many ongoing and future aeronautical projects of DRDO.

With Indian Space Research Organisation, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Indian Institute of Science too landing at Challakere, the togetherness of aerospace minds at close proximity augurs well for India’s future.

Read full report here: http://bit.ly/2ruTgR1

DRDO making ‘big, big’ planes inside, say villagers near Challakere ATR

By Anantha Krishnan M

@Mathrubhumi

Villagers of Voru Kaval and Navilekunte in Challakere (Chitradurga Dist, Karnataka), have very little clue about the activities inside the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) being readied by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

They only know that DRDO is making ‘big planes’ inside.

“Nobody is allowed inside. They are making big, big planes,” says one of the villagers whom this Correspondent met while returning from the ATR, which will be inaugurated on May 28.

Under a massive peepal tree, the villagers had assembled for their regular chit-chat and chai. Giving them company was a couple of monkeys, who according to them, are the permanent residents at a nearby Hanuman temple.

Most of the villagers who spoke to Mathrubhumi said that they need jobs and were not ‘bothered’ about what goes inside.

“Even our MP (Member of Parliament) and MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) are not allowed to go in,” says another man.

Read full report here: http://bit.ly/2qZbZTf

Photo essay on DRDO’s ATR in Challakere

See the complete essay here: http://bit.ly/2rbUqzL

Challakere: From 'Oil City' to India's prime military base of future

By Anantha Krishnan M

@Deccan Herald

Oil and military matters have nothing in common. A sign board on the National Highway at Challakere says: Welcome to the Oil City (because of the numerous edible oil mills around the town). Another board points towards Voru Kaval village, the new home for Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) at Challakere taluk in Chitradurga district of Karnataka. 

On May 28, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley will inaugurate the ATR, being set up on the 4,290 acres of land provided by the Karnataka government. Following the completion of the first phase work, the range will be extensively used for testing and evaluating unmanned and manned projects of the DRDO.

The DRDO has already positioned two of its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) — Rustom-1 and Rustom-2 TAPAS (Tactical Advanced Platform for Aerial Surveillance) — at the ATR. Once the range becomes fully operational, the DRDO will test air-to-ground weapons, parachutes, aerostats and electric warfare flares. Officials say no test flights of ballistic missiles and commercial airline operations will be conducted at the range, sticking with the guidelines given by the National Green Tribunal.

Read the full report here:http://bit.ly/2r5xWi4

#Over2Challakere: DRDO's ATR all set for official launch

Here's the 2nd prototype of #Rustom2 ready for 1st flight in a month from #ATR with reduced weight and a new engine. (Below) The front gate of ATR. Stand-by for more on Tarmak007.

Shashi Sinha: Madurai’s shy girl is now mother of interceptor missiles

By Anantha Krishnan M

Copyright@Mathrubhumi

Little Shashi along with her friends from neighbourhood cycled every evening towards a vantage point on Tadbund Road in Secunderabad to catch a glimpse of planes landing. With every touchdown, a little dream quietly took wing from the corner of the runway.

“We used to park ourselves and wait to see the big birds making touchdown. It was an awesome feeling to see planes comedown. There was this huge wall and the little opening gifted us close proximity to flying machines. We couldn’t afford to buy a ticket and see planes from close quarters. Enjoying everything from a distance was the norm then,” says Shashi Sinha.

Shashi locked on to the dream of dating flying machines for some time with the hope that she would become a pilot. To her, it was the most fascinating job on the planet. But, as she grew life charted a different flightpath and she completed her B.Tech in Electronics from Osmania University.

She drew inspiration from her father, a paratrooper 

Her hero was her father who was in the Army. She picked up early threads of discipline from him, while her mother, a Hindi pundit, taught her the power of patience.

“My mother walked 5 km to and fro every day to her school. She was such a live wire and participated in all activities in the school. Not even once in her life she cribbed. Not even once she said she was tired of cooking for us. Not sure if I can find a woman today, who doesn’t complain,” says Shashi, Project Director, Advanced Area Defence (AAD) Endo Atmospheric Interceptor Missiles, Defence Research and Development Oorganisation (DRDO).

While sharing interesting bits of her family details, Shashi said her father was a self-made man and never depended on anyone.

“He was a paratrooper and joined the Indian Army at the age of 15. He fought in the World War-II and often told me stories of USSR (Russia) and their military might. I grew up listening to these inspiring tales of men, war machines and their triumphs. Decades later in 2003 when I set my foot on Russian soil, I fondly remembered the stories my dad shared,” says Shashi, now 56 years old.

I wanted both my daughters independent 

She said the day when her father was born, he lost his mother. “That made my grandfather turn more superstitious, making my father not-so-welcome-soul in the family. But, over the years the neglect my father got from his own family made him so stronger,” she says.

Shashi too had her share of setbacks in life when she lost her husband Lt Cdr Gaurav Raj Sinha, a naval officer hailing from Allahabad, in a road accident in Hyderabad in 1997.

“Ours was a love marriage and he was my M.Tech coursemate at IIT Kharagpur. While pursing higher studies on radar applications, our signals and wavelength matched. But, his death really shook me hard because he took care of the family so much that I felt suddenly orphaned. With my two little daughters then only nine and seven years of age, I had to start a new life again,” says Shashi, who joined DRDO in November 2001.

Her contributions range over varied subjects such as development of flight vehicles, RF seekers, radomes and Radar Cross Section to name a few. In August 2012 she was made the Project Director and in 2015, she led the team successfully flight-tested the endo-atmospheric interceptor AAD, which incorporated many home-grown critical technologies.

The death of her husband and the additional responsibilities made Shashi to take a fresh look at her life and she chose to make both her daughters independent.

“I did not want to take any help from anyone. I did not want them to feel at any point that they are orphaned. It was tough for me. But I hung on to life. For many months, I used to sleep holding my husband’s photo closer to my chest. It gave me strength,” she adds.

Her elder daughter Pavitra is now a freelance artiste, while the younger one Roshani is pursuing her post-doctoral studies abroad.

Hit to kill AAD mission a great leap forward for India

When asked about the AAD project, Shashi said that India has now made huge inroads with the recent success of the mission. She said the systems are fine-tuned ahead of its induction.

“Elsewhere in the world, the missiles are lighter and smarter. We are also reaching there and with all the available technologies we could recently demonstrate a hit to kill mission, becoming the third nation after the US and France,” she said.

17, the AAD interceptor destroyed incoming ballistic missile satisfying all the mission objectives. Shashi and the team are currently engaged in the design and development of a multiple–role long-range interceptor that counters a wide range of threats, carrying onboard many new technologies.

On the challenges of heading such a sensitive project, Shashi says every job entrusted upon must be dealt with dedication.

“I want every woman to constantly push their limits. I want them to take on all the challenges head on. Enjoy the task given to you. Own them up,” says Shashi, who has been always inspired by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and Dr V K Saraswat, whom she considers are the builders of the BMD programme in India.

“Dr Kalam’s encouraging words on my first day in DRDO were so inspiring so much that they are still my guiding mantras. If an ordinary girl from Madurai can come this far, I am confident there are many woman in India who can achieve much more than what I did. The idea is to lock on to your goals all the time,” says Shashi.

According to her visionaries like Dr Avinash Chander, Dr S. Christopher and Dr Satheesh Reddy have always encouraged her team to push the limits.

What’s the secret the family tattoo? 

Interestingly the top missile scientist and her daughters spot a tattoo on their hands and Sashsi has a small story to share behind it.

“These are a family tattoo designed by my daughters. I got it done this year at the age of 56 and was really excited to get my first tattoo. The written tattoo says ‘pure moon light’ -- which is a combination of our names together. Pure means Pavitra, Moon means Shashi and Light stands for Roshani. The symbol seen is a celtic Triquetra. A triangle is known to be the most stable structures, and so it signifies the three of us. The shape around the Triquetra is that of a guardian angel, signifying my late husband watching over us and protecting us,” says Shashi, with a child-like excitement.

So, what does the ‘Iron Lady’ while not adding teeth to her hit-to-kill toys? Well, she paints, swims, paints and hits her garden of hope.

https://twitter.com/writetake

Delay in wing deployment caused Nirbhay missile’s third failure

By Anantha Krishnan M

Mathrubhumi English Online

Bengaluru, Jan 15: The recent failed mission of subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay is pointing towards a slight ‘pause’ (delay) during the process of wing deployment. This malfunctioning of the mechanism that deploys the wing appears to have resulted in the missile developing a very high roll-rate, which led to the Inertial Navigation System (INS) losing its frame of reference. This caused the missile to veer away from its intended flight path, leading to a situation which called for aborting the mission from safety considerations.

Sources within the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), who reviewed the video footage of the missile’s failed flight, confirmed to Mathrubhumi that the wing is normally deployed in less than 500 milli-seconds (0.5 sec.) after booster burn-out and separation of the booster section from the main missile.

“In the previous missions, we have been achieving the wing deployment in around 300-350 milli-seconds. This time the wing seems to have got stuck at 60 degrees position for about 1.5 seconds causing the damage. This is what we have assessed so far. The missile appears to have developed the high roll rate due to the partially deployed wing”, an official said.

Read the full report, here: http://bit.ly/2ikMFUT

Tapas (Rustom-2) first flight video

Medium range missile has successful twin strikes

 https://twitter.com/writetake

Bengaluru, June 30: India on Thursday successfully test-fired the Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) for the first time from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), off Odisha coast.
The missile, jointly developed by Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), was test-fired from LC-III (Launch Complex) of ITR situated in Chandipur at around 8.15 am. The MRSAM is being developed for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Interestingly, the missile was test-fired for the second time today, successfully. 

Full report, here: http://bit.ly/292xBBY

Video of NLCA maiden night flight from SBTF