NAL bailed out BrahMos ALCM when Russians asked for the Moon

By Anantha Krishnan M

https://twitter.com/writetake

Bengaluru, Dec 28: India rightly celebrated ‘BrahMostav’ of a different kind when the frontline striker Sukhoi Su-30MKI fired a modified BrahMos supersonic cruise missile for the first time recently.

The feat of a Su-30 MKI, piloted by Wg Cdr Prashant Nair taking off from Kalaikunda Air Force Station on November 22, 2017, carrying the 2.5-tonne Brahmos missile and returning to the base after piercing the target in less than an hour, has already found a place in the history books.

But there’s a missing link to this piece of inspiring military history.

One name that missed out the pressers and headlines prominently was National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), a leading laboratory under Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), based out of Bengaluru.

It was NAL who bailed out the BrahMos Aerospace during 2013-14 period, when the greedy Russians were asking for the moon to conduct a series of wind-tunnel tests ahead of the actual integration of the BrahMos Air Launch Cruise Missile (ALCM) on to Su-30MKI.

Military sources now confirm to Mathrubhumi that the Russians demanded ‘exorbitant charges’ to carry out these tests, a first-time experience even for them, since India was the first country to integrate a supersonic cruise missile on to fighter jet.

The Russians are said to have quoted over Rs 1300 crore with no commitment on transfer of technology. The Indian team, consisting of members from BrahMos, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the Indian Air Force (IAF), then turned to NAL for help.

NAL, with their extensive knowledge of carrying out wind-tunnel experiments for various national military and space missions, accepted the challenge and delivered the test results at 120th the cost of what the Russians had sought for.

How NAL executed the challenging task

For NAL, it was a first-time-experience to undertake drop test of stores from a Su-30MKI aircraft model. At their 1.5m low-speed wind tunnel, using Froude Scaling principles, the scientists carried out tests at low speeds of (M<0.3).

A Su-30 MKI model, the largest aircraft model, was designed, fabricated and commissioned at a record time at NAL’s National Trisonic Aerodynamic Facilities (NTAF). [A trisonic wind tunnel is capable of testing flight vehicles at subsonic, transonic and supersonic speed ranges].

The study provided the ideal conditions for the stores release at actual flight Mach numbers including the deflection setting angles for the fore and aft fins.

The software developed allowed tracking of the time-resolved displacement, velocity, acceleration and Euler angles. The composite image of the missile was recorded at four different instances along the trajectory.

NAL used appropriately scaled models of Su-30MKI and BrahMos missile for testing in low speed and high speed wind tunnels. Aerodynamic loads on the isolated missile loads were measured in the 2-ft wind tunnel and the same model was attached to the aircraft model.

Later, the aerodynamic loads on the complete configuration was determined in the 4-ft wind tunnel simulating flight Mach number range of 0.55 to 1.2 conditions at various angles of attack and sideslip to ascertain installation effects, store load in carriage position and in aircraft interference flow-field.

Store separation critical for airborne missions

Those associated with the ALCM mission from the early days say that the store separation of the weapon is the critical milestone for any airborne weapon program.

Highly specialized and complex tests such as ‘Dynamically Similar Tests’ or ‘Drop tests’ were conducted for the first time in India at the Experimental Aerodynamics Division of NAL.

In ‘Drop tests’ the missile model is dropped in the wind tunnel simulating aircraft speed, altitude and other parameters and separation trajectories are analysed. These tests were crucial for getting clearance for the BrahMos separation trials.

The wind tunnel tests were conducted in phases in 4-ft and 2 ft trisonic wind tunnels of NTAF. For the store separation tests, grid studies were carried out in 4-ft trisonic wind tunnel in NTAF to see the effect of BrahMos on the Su-30MKI aircraft model in carriage position. 

The team also undertook air-intake studies to study whether the presence of the missile affects the performance of the air-intakes of the Su-30MKI. NAL was also involved in the crucial task of envelope expansion of the aircraft with the launcher, developed by BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd.

When cross-checked, the complete test results even surprised the Russians who acknowledged that NAL findings were better and more accurate than what they had derived at.

NAL’s wind tunnel results matched very well with the results of the actual flight data. The capabilities developed are now being applied to other airborne weapon integration programmes.

The path-breaking tests fetched NAL the Best Laboratory Award in 2014 from BrahMos, presented by former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. Interestingly, India has named the hypersonic version of BrahMos after Dr Kalam. @Mathrubhumi

Upgraded Saras PT1N all set for maiden flight in Jan

By Anantha Krishnan M

Bengaluru, Dec 26: National Aeronautics Laboratories (NAL), a frontline wing under Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) here, is ready to put the upgraded prototype of Saras on its maiden flight.

The Saras PT1N (New), a 14-seater passenger plane, is expected to have its first flight after completing one more high speed taxi trial (HSTT).

Military sources confirm to Mathrubhumi that the first flight will be about 20-25 minutes.

Two Test Pilots and one Flight Test Engineer, who are empanelled to the PT1N project from Indian Air Force’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), will be onboard the maiden mission.

The first flight could be any time during the first/second week of January 2018.

What separates the PT1N now from the maiden flight are a SRB (Safety Review Board) and one final HSTT.

A young team of around 40 scientists and engineers, with an average age of 40 years, have been toiling hard for the last nine months to ensure Saras does what it is meant to be doing -- flying.

The project had virtually hit a dead end after the March 2009 crash of PT-2 martyring three ASTE crew onboard. The subsequent crash probe, lack of confidence among users, want of funds and political will further dented the project.

The aircraft was grounded for close to three years (2013-2016) barring namesake EGRs to keep the power-plant in good shape.

The resurgence of Saras project as PT1N has now given hope for India’s foray into making 14/19-seater passenger turboprops, with China, Russia, Poland, Indonesia and United States have already gone some distance.

In the new avatar as PT1N, it boasts of many upgraded features, following a gap analysis undertaken last year.

A close look at what PT1N looks like

* The control forces have been significantly reduced.

* The nacelle design (for engine mount) has been made optimal.

* Environmental control systems, cabin pressurization systems have been modified.

* Automatic avionics stall warning system included.

* Linear flap track and trim taps on elevator modified. 

* Rudder area enhanced for better controllability. 

* Flight test instrumentation modified.

* Electrical systems modified to reduce voltage losses.

* Air data system has been provided with the nose boom for redundancy.

Apart from above modification on the aircraft, the following additional safety measures have also been ensured by the team.

* Complete borosopic inspection of the aircraft to eliminate any doubts about corrosion. 

* Computer-based failure analysis of engine, elevator jamming and ailerons power adequacy. 

* Simulator upgraded to the high-fidelity.

The NAL-ASTE combine’s primary objective with PT-1N is to evaluate all systems, including design and performance parameters. The inputs collected from PT1N’s initial flights (expected to be around 20-30 in the next six months), will be then used to freeze the design, paving way for the production version.

India’s 19-seater dream will be Saras Mk-2

PT-IN flight data will inspire NAL to prepare the DPR (detail project report) for India’s much-awaited 19-seater passenger plane – Saras Mk2.

The Saras Mk2 will have additional five more seats and a toilet as compared to the PT1N. It will also have gen-next avionics and glass cockpit, autopilot and other features any modern passenger turboprop could boast off.

The Saras Mk2 with reduced weight (around 700 kg compared to PT1N) will have an AUW (all up-weight) of roughly around 7.4 to 7.5 ton and will likely to run on MRF tyres.

Sources confirm that NAL plans to have both military and passenger version for the 19-seater. They hope to encash on the CEMILAC-DGCA’s certification model used in ALH, to save time.

As of now, two production variants are planned while the third one will be a fatigue test specimen (FTS) – all estimated to costing around Rs 700 crore.

In the last one year, NAL put some of its best workforce behind the Saras project with many slogging it out day and night.

Insiders say only less than Rs 5 core has been spent in the last one year for Saras PT-IN, thanks to lean management philosophy, optimum usage of resources and constant monitoring.

With CSIR backing the project after some hiccups, Saras is sure to be India’s star in 2018 with IAF offering all support to the desi mission once again. CSIR DG Dr Girish Sahni’s push for the Saras PT1N/19-seater, and the Udan mantra of Govt of India also have come as a blessing for team NAL.

Subject to the Cabinet Committee on Security approval, the detail design of the first limited series production (LSP) variant of Saras-Mk-2 should begin in 2019 followed by certification and demonstration flights by 2021. In short, in three years NAL will have its handful with Saras once again back on the radar. @Mathrubhumi 

A month before demise, Dr Kalam wished India’s RTA mission took off again: Dr Kota Harinarayana

By Anantha Krishnan M

https://twitter.com/writetake

Bengaluru, Dec 13: Former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam wanted aerospace brains in India to chase the dream of developing a homegrown Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA), an idea that got grounded many times.

Speaking to OneIndia on Sunday, Dr Kota Harinarayana, currently a visiting professor with IIT Mumbai said that Dr Kalam constantly reminded the scientific community to get the plane project back on the flightpath.

“My last meeting with Dr Kalam was during the last week of June this year and he wanted me to push various stakeholders to put some life back to the RTA project. He always said that India must have an own RTA programme. It was his intense desire,” says Dr Kota.

Dr Kota is widely revered as the man who gave wing to India’s desi fighter jet programme – the Light Combat Aircrfat (LCA). Often referred to as the ‘Father of LCA programme,’ Dr Kota was closely associated with many missions of the former President.

Interestingly, India’s transport aircraft dream was initially called as RTA-70 (70-seater) and later it became NCAD (National Civil Aircraft Development) project, with a 90-seater mandate.

The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) played a major role initially and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) too joined hands later. The project saw feasibility studies undertaken by many experts, but finally NCAD ran out of funding and the idea was shelved quietly.

Dr Kota says he hasn’t given up hopes and is pursuing Dr Kalam’s vision. He is of the firm opinion that RTA should be a turbo-prop one, so that it gives an advantage to military operations.

Turboprop RTA best for military operations: “Two schools of thought always existed – the turbofan and turboprop -- and many feasibility studies were also held. I am backing turboprop for the simple reason that it will be easy for our armed forces. Short runways are always an advantage for military operations and only a turboprop can offer that,” says Dr Kota.

He said all the five existing major RTA players are offering 14 different variants of turbofan platforms, including Embraer (Brazil), Bombardier (Canada), Superjet (Russia), MRJ (Japan) and ATR21 (France-Italy).

“ATR and Bombardier are also offering turboprop platforms and we saw a market potential in that segment. Dr Kalam wanted us to push the idea again with the government and industry so that a PPP (Private, Public Partnership) model was in place. He also wanted a proven international player be roped in as a risk-sharing partner,” says Dr Kota.

Time will prove the worth of Tejas: He said only if India took on the challenges head-on, can we master technologies and inspire the industry.

“Now everyone is happy with Tejas and the knowledge the programme imparted to scientists, engineers, industry and the academia. It is the collective responsibility of all those who believe in India’s aerospace capabilities to get the RTA programme going,” he adds.

Dr Kota, who was the former head of Aeronautical Development Agency, also expressed his satisfaction over the government’s decision to order 100 modified Tejas MK1As.

“Good decision and this will further the industrial growth in India. Unless the Indian Air Force buys Tejas in large numbers, how will others show interest? Time will prove the worth of this fighter made in India. Any amount of buying from abroad cannot build technology capabilities within the country,” says Dr Kota, who is also now associated with IIIT, Jabalpur.

On reports of a possible outing by Tejas at the upcoming Bahrain International Air Show, the man who gave a major part of his life to the programme said: “More skies Tejas paint its success story, better days for India’s aeronautical missions.” Copyright@OneIndia

S&T minister seeks whitepaper on civil aircraft project, NAL activities

By Anantha Krishnan M

https://twitter.com/writetake

Bengaluru, April 05: Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that he has sought a whitepaper on the research activities of National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) in Bengaluru.

Responding to a specific question from OneIndia on the status of NAL’s civil aircraft programme, the minister said he has asked Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) acting Director-General (Dr M O Garg) and NAL Director (Shyam Chetty) to make a white paper on the civil aircraft programme and other activities of NAL.

“I am of the opinion that we need to re-orient our research. The CSIR needs to definitely take a fresh look at the activities they have been doing in the last six decades,” Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and NAL have already formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to undertake a 70-90-seater civil aircraft programme on a public private partnership (PPP) model.

The SPV was necessitated after the much-hyped National Civil Aircraft Development (NCAD) programme was put to a slow death during the UPA-2 regime.

Read the full report on OneIndia here: http://bit.ly/1P9S6xy

5 home-grown MAVs ready for production | ADE-NAL combo to transfer ToT to HAL

Indian Eagle (previously Imperial Eagle), a mini air vehicle, during one of its demonstration flights. (Below) members of India's MAV club.

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: Indian security agencies including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and the National Security Guards (NSG) are likely to have small wings of micro and mini air vehicles (MAVs) under their commands soon. Developed jointly by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), these unmanned desi MAVs will soon get on to a mass production mode at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) facilities. HAL is expected to sign an MoU with ADE and NAL on transfer of technology (ToT) to manufacture custom-built MAVs.

Under a 2008 programme sanctioned with an initial seed money of Rs 20 crore, the ADE-NAL combo developed three micro air vehicles namely Black Kite, Golden Hawk and Pushpak. The team also developed two mini air vehicles, Indian Eagle (previously Imperial Eagle) and Sly Bird (see box). In the last six years, these MAVs underwent development trials demonstrating their capabilities. Each MAV, including the ground support systems, is expected to cost between Rs 5-10 lakhs depending upon their configuration.

In an exclusive interview to Express, V S Chandrashekar, Associate Director, ADE, said that the MAVs offer great advantages for undertaking security missions. "They are compact, man-portable (can be carried in a backpack with just two persons required for operation), easy to unpack and can be deployed within 10-15 minutes. They are difficult to be detected and very effective for close range and low-level surveillance," Chandrashekar, who holds the rank of an Outstanding Scientist in ADE, said.

In addition to CRPF, NSG and BSF, some of the state police agencies also have shown interest in deploying these systems. "Our teams have been giving functional demonstration of the MAVs to these agencies. The ownership cost of these MAVs is significantly less compared to the bigger unmanned aerial vehicles. Thus multiple vehicles could be deployed for completing a mission. Police teams can fly these MAVs over urban populace and assess issues of safety and collateral damage during accidents or riots. The advanced data helps to plan missions before mass deployment of forces," Chandrashekar said.

To a specific query whether these MAVs can be seen in armed roles in future, the top scientist said that the days are not far off when these systems carry miniature lethal payloads. "Definitely, these can get deployed for creating nuisance in the operational environment by making critical systems inoperative by jamming and interference. Kamikaze missions (aerial attacks) are also possible with the MAVs," he said.

THE MAV CLUB: MAVs -- Golden Hawk, Black Kite and Pushpak -- are in the 300 mm class. They weigh about 300 to 450 gms and have an endurance of 20 to 30 minutes. At about 20 knots cruise speed it has a range of 1 km and can climb to a ceiling altitude of 100 metres. They carry a fixed daylight camera.

Indian Eagle and Slybird are slightly bigger MAVs and weigh about 3.5 kgs with an endurance of 50 to 60 minutes. At about 20 knots cruise speed it has a range of 10 km and can climb to a ceiling altitude of 300 metres. They carry gimbal-mounted daylight or infra-red camera.

These MAVs are hand-launched and possess fully autonomous cruise abilities using waypoint navigation. They are recovered by soft belly-landing and the entire mission is monitored using Toughbook-based Ground Control Station, where image exploitation algorithms are processed in real-time.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

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NAL scientists on mission mode to make planes smarter, safer

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: Scientists at the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) are working on gen-next components that will make planes smarter and healthier. Through Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of composites, scientists are confident that the performance of the flying machines too will increase. The research is being carried out at the Advanced Composites Division (ACD) of NAL with the sole aim of carrying out SHM of planes while they are in flight. NAL is a premier wing of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Sharing some finer points of the close-guarded research with Express, Dr Ramesh Sundaram, Senior Principal Scientist & Deputy Head, ACD, said that any defects on the aircraft could be detected in future using on-board SHM systems. "The defects could be due to debris on the runway, hailstorm pieces impacting the aircraft, the most common incidents of tool-dropping during maintenance, impact of hard-landing on landing gear and even due to the impact of ground-handling equipment on the aircraft. The SHM systems will be able to give a real-time feed to the pilots," Dr Ramesh said.

Tested on UAV, Hansa: "The current systems being used in aircraft are safe, but our SHM system will help reduce time required for inspections. We have progressed well in the area and have demonstrated the technology on the two-seater Hansa aircraft. In collaboration with Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), we have demonstrated the SHM system using fiber optic sensors on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Nishant," Dr Ramesh said. During the technology demonstration of the SHM systems on the boom of UAV, scientists were able to capture the strain pattern on the tail boom -- right from take-off to parachute-deployment, while landing. Using these strain parameters, scientists have developed an algorithm to estimate the loads on the structure. 

"Now, we are looking experiments at lab level to understand the extent of damage using the SHM system. We also want to predict the residual life of aircraft structures due to the damages caused over a period of time. Currently we are focusing on developing simulation models to validate the experimental results," the scientist said.

Lesser inspection time: NAL Director Shyam Chetty said that it will take some more time before India could claim its supremacy in developing SHM systems. "What it will eventually do is bring down the inspection time to a few hours. Operators will get huge maintenance advantage as overall health of the aircraft will be readily available. Health of the various onboard electronic systems of the avionics suite is already being checked continuously in flight by what is called C-BIT (Continuous built-in-test)," Shyam said.

On Tejas in future: According to Dr Kota Harinarayana, aerospace legend and mentor, it is essential to have a technology to map the health of the aircraft constantly. "If there is an incipient failure, these systems should be able to detect the same. We hope even the future variants of Tejas too will have SHM systems; that will help us to look at the health of aircraft in totality," Dr Kota said.

A paradigm shift: NAL has been undertaking projects with funding from the Aircraft Research and Development Board (AR&DB), a movement spearheaded by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. Many academic institutions including IITs, Indian Institute of Science are working along with NAL in the area of SHM system research. "World over, similar studies have been undertaken by major aircraft companies on an experimental basis. The day is not too far when SHM-based design will become the mandate for aircraft manufacturing firms. This paradigm shift will probably turn around the current concept of plane-making. Scientists with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) too have made some inroads on this front," Dr Ramesh added.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

Army receives a shot in the arm

Copyright@The New Indian Express

NAL to unveil wind solar hybrid system for remote hamlets

(Above) The main modules of wind solar hybrid system. (Below) Wind turbine undergoes tow test at HAL airport.

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is gearing up to launch a 500 W Wind Solar Hybrid System that can power standalone utilities including borewells, pumps and other light loads, especially in remote hamlets. Developed in partnership with the private firm Aparna Renewable Energy Source (ARES), the hybrid system promises to aid areas that are deprived of steady supply of power. 

NAL director Shyam Chetty told Express on Thursday that the solar system has been developed in line with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) mandate to focus on technologies relevant to societal missions. "The wind turbines from abroad are efficient only at higher speeds, which rarely occur in India. We developed the hybrid system at the Centre for Societal Missions and Special Technologies (CSMST). For CSIR-NAL, hybrid systems will be a thrust area to pursue in future for both rural and urban applications," Shyam said.

The system consists of five main modules including a wind turbine, solar photovoltaic unit, charge controller, outdoor control panel and a battery bank. "We have been exploring the application of aerospace technologies for exploiting renewable alternate sources of energy. We have developed a wide range of technologies related to wind turbines in the past decade which are akin to helicopter blades. Advanced carbon composite materials were used for the blades with the aim of minimising the environmental impact. Advanced research is on to switch over to natural fibres with higher degree of environmental friendliness," Shyam said. Each new system will cost around Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 crore has been spent in the last four years as part of the development. 

During the development stage, NAL scientists simulated the entire range of wind speeds (3-15 metre per second) likely to occur while the system is in service, at HAL's airstrip in Bangalore. "This is an aerospace spin-off system as many advanced processes and materials have been already developed for various aircraft programmes. We have the expertise to develop more efficient wind turbines compared to those available in the Indian market. Cost effectiveness is key and we have already demonstrated it with the new hybrid system," says G N Dayananda, Chief Scientist, Head CSMST. He said NAL has already received encouraging responses from various renewable energy departments in North-East region. NAL scientists T H Samiullah and Kanaka Muthu played their respective roles in during the development of the system.

M Satyanarayana, CEO, ARES, said the market is flooded with Chinese turbines which are not suitable for Indian condition. "Our challenge was to develop wind turbine blades which could generate power at speeds of less than 5 meter per second. In South India, these systems can be used in areas such as Coorg, Chikmagalur, high ranges of Kerala and the Nilgiri belt in Tamil Nadu," says Satyanarayana.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

Tejas IOC2 | Snapshots from Bangalore | Sharpshooter Rahul at it again!

Photos: Rahul Devnath

Rahul Devnath is a promising freelance photographer in Bangalore. He is with the Corporate Communications Department of Jain University. Very passionate about the plane stuff. He had interned with the blogger a couple of years back.

NAL technologies for Tejas to set benchmarks for future fighter programmes

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: As India prepares to give the initial operational clearance (IOC-2) to its home grown fighter Tejas on December 20, the scientists at the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) are delighted that over 20 years of their hard work will finally pay rich dividends. NAL Director Shyam Chetty said that the technologies developed for Tejas will set new benchmarks for India's future fighter jet development programmes. The control law team consisting of members from NAL, ADA and HAL which he heads, had provided decisive leadership in developing the flight control laws including the autopilot, simulation and modelling. The team also developed advanced parameter identification techniques used for flight validation and updation of the aerodynamic database for safe flight envelope expansion of the Tejas. “Fourteen variants of Tejas have completed over 2450 flights. The 17 Test pilots, who flew Tejas so far, have rated the flying qualities of the aircraft as excellent,” Shyam said during his team's interaction with Express on Friday.

V Nagarajan, chief scientist and head of National Trisonic Aerodynamic Facility at NAL, which houses the country's only 1.2-m trisonic wind tunnel, said that stores separation tests (a critical operation that could affect the safety of the fighter during weapon release), was analysed at NAL's wind-tunnel facility. Necessary data was generated to enable safe store separation in flight. The scientists had also conducted complex air intake buzz studies to establish the safe flight envelope boundary limits for the aircraft engine. “This is important as the disturbed air flow entering the air intakes can cause the engine performance to deteriorate suddenly and thus affect the safety of flight,” said Dr G K Suryanarayana, chief scientist.

Entering the wake (the highly circulatory vortex flow emanating from the lead aircraft) during close combat is an operational hazard fighters have to encounter. It can severally affect the performance of the flight control system and in extreme cases result in major structural damage. “To ensure that there is no hazard to Tejas on entering the wake, extensive modelling and simulation studies were carried out at the Flight Mechanics and Control Division, and the models were subsequently validated by flight tests. The aircraft under test was made to actually enter the wake emanating from the lead aircraft highlighted using smoke generators at different separation distances and relative orientations,” said Dr Pashilkar, a scientist.

The use of composite materials made Tejas lighter and has resulted in more than 20 per cent savings in cost and about 15 per cent savings in weight said H N Sudheendra, head, Advanced Composite Division. “The challenge was to make the structures free from joints. The technology to manufacture 152 composite components has been transferred to HAL by NAL for the Tejas series production, while the remaining 13 critical components will continued to be made by NAL in partnership with the private sector,” he said. Tejas airframe is 45 per cent composites (mostly carbon-epoxy) by weight, contributing to its reputation as the world’s smallest light weight fighter aircraft.

Satish Chandra, head of Structural Technologies, said that all the wind tunnel models of Tejas were designed at NAL by a joint team. The transonic flutter of Tejas wing with the R-73 missile was cleared by conducting specialised wind tunnel tests which enabled Tejas to get initial flight clearance.

Another first for the country, according to Dr Jatinder Singh, a chief scientist, was the successful flight validation and update of the aerodynamic database used extensively for simulation and design of the flight control laws. “It involved carrying out 500 plus flight tests for identifying the differences in flight when compared to simulation,” he said.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

INDIA SHINING | NAL to unveil desi lab scale autoclave for IIT-K | Product to mitigate imports | MIT, VSSC ready with orders

By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service

Bangalore: Scripting a new chapter in the much-debated Pubic Private Partnership (PPP) in aerospace and defence, the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), a wing of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Bangalore, is ready to unveil a product that will propel educational R&D in India. The first indigenous lab scale autoclave for aerospace applications is ready to be shipped out of NAL to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K). While the design of the autoclave is by NAL, the mechanical systems have come from UCE, Mumbai and the control systems from Datasol, Bangalore.
During a visit to NAL's Center for Societal Missions and Special Technologies (CSMST), Dr G N Dayananda, chief scientist, told Express that the Lab Scale Autoclave is being built at nearly half the cost of imported ones. Manipal Institute of Technology and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, will also get these autoclaves soon.
“The first lab scale autoclave will be unveiled during the autoclave user’s meet at NAL on September 3. A large autoclave order (4-m diameter and 13.5-m length) has been bagged against stiff competition from established European and American firms, after due technical qualification,” Dr Dayananda said.
According to Dr K Sham Sunder, Honorary Managing Director, NALTech, the efforts of Indian scientists in developing a desi lab scale autoclave should mitigate the imports, if not totally stop, saving precious foreign exchange. “We will deliver the next one in nine months and our expertise have forced the foreign vendors to substantially reduce their prices. The successful operation of this PPP model must pave the way for more such initiatives, exploiting the inherent technological strengths of our public sector and efficient marketing and production capabilities of the private sector,” Dr Sham, a seasoned campaigner with India's Tejas programme, said.
Due to the embargoes on import in the early 80S, NAL had developed a large aerospace autoclave for Tejas within the lab. “We also took up the challenge later to develop much bigger autoclaves for Tejas and today they have become the work horse at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. One of the autoclaves with NAL is presently the largest state-of-art autoclave in the Indian aerospace sector,” says G M Kamalakannan, a principal scientist with CSMST.
“The technology developed is not the type that can be transferred for example like a chemical compound, as the autoclave requirements in terms of size and performance are customer specific, requiring suitable multidisciplinary design adaptations. The PPP model was the best-suited for us and the selection of the partners was mainly based on their competence, cost effectiveness and willingness to function harmoniously as a team. The lab scale autoclave being supplied to IIT-K will set the tone for India's foray into a complex technology in aerospace,” says J Ramaswamy Setty, a senior scientist with CSMST.

What are autoclaves

Advanced Carbon Fibre Composites (CFC) are extensively used in modern fighter aircraft, to minimise the weight and for improved performance. Of late, even civil aircraft, such as Boeing-787 (Dreamliner), have used composites extensively in their airframes. Composite parts for aircraft applications have to be cured in a controlled environment which need to follow certain pressure, temperature and vacuum cycles, to achieve the requisite properties. Autoclaves designed and developed to aerospace standards serve such a purpose.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

Tracking Tejas | A fighter stuck in muck!

It's raining in Bangalore during evenings these days and virtually every low-lying area is being inundated. Behind the Monsoon madness, there's another storm brewing within the hangars of India's Tejas programme -- which the blogger is keenly observing for some time. With the new DRDO chief promising quick action to put the project back on track (trust me, it’s not going to be easy), it’s fair to give him some time and see what’s in the offing.

Meantime, the blogger will soon have a story as to who is playing the dirty game, further sinking an already-late national fighter jet programme. Can you guess who the villain is? One or many? Also India’s defence minister St Antony should stop playing to the gallery by saying ‘perform or perish’ to catch the headlines. He has been saying this for the last one year, now!

It’s becoming a Late Complicated Aircraft and maybe we should launch a national campaign to save Tejas from the current mess. What you say?

Leave your thoughts on the above post on the blog's FB page.

Israel steps up bid to get onboard India's RTA dream

By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service

Hyderabad: The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) continued with their strong pitch to get onboard India's Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) dream, now taking a new turn with the Aeronautical Society of India promising a vision document for the project. At the just-concluded two-day International Conference & Exhibition on RTA, in Hyderabad, Moshe Zilberman, director, marketing, IAI, said that India should aim for getting the RTA certified within the next five years.
“The rules are different in a civil market. The assembly lines will have to be independent for such a big programme. The Indian government can guarantee orders from operators, Services and private companies. I feel an integrated programme team has to be in place, including those from design, manufacturing, maintenance, civil aviation and operators,” Moshe Zilberman, said.
Dishing out statistics, Moshe said the Indian domestic airliners market is globally the fastest growing and an RTA would give the impetus to the segment. “In the 90-seater segment, there is a potential for 500-1000 aircraft in the next 20 years. An RTA programme will save India around $40 billion,” Moshe claimed.
“The IAI is a recognised member in the exclusive club of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that certify civil aircraft for several years. We have no conflict with India because we are not developing an RTA for us,” Moshe said, while presenting a paper on 'Global Perspective on the Indian Domestics Airliner Market.'
Reacting to IAI's keenness on RTA, a senior official from the Defence Research and Development Organisation said that the final call on the structure and partnership is a matter the Indian government will have to decide. “There were some work done by IAI for the National Civil Aviation Development feasibility study at National Aerospace Laboratories. The interest shown by IAI should be seen as their efforts to get some share of the work from us. We have had ups and downs dealing with IAI in some ongoing projects,” the official, requesting anonymity, said.

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AeSI pledges to propel India's now grounded RTA dream

By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service

Hyderabad: India’s dream of developing a Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) might be far from reality, but the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) on Sunday took a pledge at the historical Taramati Baradari, near Golconda Fort, in Hyderabad, to push the case with renewed energy. At the concluding session of the two-day International Conference and Exhibition on RTA, the aerospace brains decided to present a strong case to the government within a month. However, absent from the scene was Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), with not a single official present during the concluding session.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief V K Saraswat told Express that the AeSI will present a report based on the thoughts gathered from experts in the field of military and commercial aviation. “A techno-commercial analysis is already in place put out by the National Aerospace Laboratories. We will add impetus to this report. What needs to be built and what needs to be bought should be decided first. Infrastructure, human resources, feasible routes, technology gaps that need to be addressed and funding are some key areas for the RTA project,” Saraswat said.

According to him, India’s RTA programme has to be a public-private company with proper checks and balances.  “Accountability is the key. We need to have a strong project management team. This project should not be lead by a government agency,” Saraswat said. When asked about the absence of HAL officials during the final phase of the event, the DRDO chief said: “I don’t see that as a major issue. They were here yesterday.”

S K Chaudhuri, director, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), felt that an autonomous body should drive the RTA project. “We need to look at

this project from a new angle. A cultural change is must and it can happen only through a consortium of public, private partnership. Automation, upgradation of small airports in the country and the creation of a rugged network are areas we need to focus,” Chaudhuri said.

Keeping in mind the mammoth challenge of certification of the RTA, Charan Das, joint director general, DGCA, felt that the platform must be cleared as per the international standards. “It is a cumbersome process to certify RTA with the existing manpower we have. Roping in an internal agency will be the right idea, which will also give us some exposure in their pattern of thinking and work philosophies,” Das said.

P N A P Rao, former project director of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) told Express that India should first decide on the partners of this project. “If we are serious, then we should decide who will make RTA. Somebody has to own it first and we can’t repeat the mistakes we made in the past. Today, we have the expertise in developing Tejas and now we must quickly get on with the civil segment too,” Rao said.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

CLAW-ING AHEAD: Tejas clan who overcame tech denials turns 20

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: First they were denied technology by the West. They took it in their stride and decided to go the desi way. Then came the mother of all shocks. Some of them wanted to get married, but the prospective brides ran away, thanks to their plight. Marriage proposals vanished from the radar at supersonic speeds. Down, but not out, they stuck as one team chasing a national dream set by A P J Abdul Kalam in 1992. Their mission: To build fly-by-wire flight Control Laws (CLAW) for the Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas) programme.

India's top CLAW brain and NAL's
Acting Director Shyam Chetty.

It was 20 years ago when Kalam took the decision to form the national CLAW team with scientists and engineers mainly chosen from the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL). “In 1992, ADA floated a global tender seeking consultancy for developing six critical technologies, including developing CLAW for Tejas. They got responses for all five technologies, barring CLAW, which nobody was willing to part with India due to its strategic nature,” recalls NAL's acting director, Shyam Chetty.

It was on June 2, 1992, when Kalam had his first meeting of the CLAW clan in Bangalore, with CSIR-NAL as the nodal centre. “We started everything from ground zero and (Dr) Kalam had a huge impact on us. Most of the team members worked for close to 18 hours every day. We are delighted that today our CLAW is one of the successful part of Tejas that is getting into the Indian Air Force's inventory. We have completed all parameters for the initial operational clearance (IOC) phase,” said Shyam.

In the process, the CLAW team also mastered Wake Encounter Simulation – a critical area for the Tejas programme. “Wake simulation is a very complicated and challenging modelling control problem. Aerodynamics is simulated by splitting the aircraft into seven components and computing forces and moments on each component,” said NAL sources.

ADA sources told Express that the CLAW team has made the life of pilots simpler. “He is fed only what he needs. The HOTAS (Hands on Throttle-And-Stick) ensures that the pilot is at absolute ease during his mission,” sources said, adding, “Tejas is an unstable platform and it is CLAW that acts as its brain.”

The success story of CLAW did not come easy for those involved. The bad publicity that Tejas got in early days and low salaries ensured that most of the team members (men) had a tough time in finding suitable brides. “Yes. It's true and many of our team mates faced this problem. Our job profile was such that no father dared to give her daughter. Some of my colleagues even had to undergo counselling. All that is past and we are all happily married now. But can't believe how 20 years flew past,” said a senior NAL scientist.

To mark the 20th anniversary of CLAW team's formation, NAL is organising an event today (June 2) with CSIR director-general S K Brahmachari, Tejas project chief P S Subramaniam, NAL acting director Shyam Chetty and former ADA head Kota Harinarayana lined up as speakers. Sure to be etched in emotions, the big boys of Indian aerospace might share the story as to how they hung on to their goal to make India self-reliant. And, in the process winning the hearts of their other-halves, who chose them as the suitable boys for the sky party.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

(Team CLAW was profiled on the blog during Tejas IOC-1 event in Bangalore and some points for today's piece are taken from it.)

Dedicated nano-tech facility opens at NAL today

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: A facility to aid advance research in nano-materials will be opened in Bangalore on June 1, scripting a new chapter in surface modification technologies in the areas of aerospace, energy, societal and engineering sectors. Samir K Brahmachari, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will inaugurate the facility at the National Aerospace Limited (NAL) premises. The new facility would integrate under one roof all the ongoing nanotechnology-related activities of NAL.

Sources tell Express that the Surface Engineering Division (SED) of NAL has been developing economically-viable technologies over the years. “Nano technology has made huge inroads in aerospace sector and NAL has been exploring the possibilities over the years. We have already developed and demonstrated some technologies in the area of solar selective coatings for domestic water heating and steam generation. Some of the highly polishable nanocrystalline coatings for passive radiative coolers have already been used on various satellite missions by ISRO,” sources said.

An efficient coating technology called NALSUN, meant for solar thermal applications, has been already transferred to 28 entrepreneurs. “The nanostructured materials and coatings have become a broad and multidisciplinary field of research with emerging applications. Some of the frontier areas of research at CSIR-NAL so far has been self-cleaning coatings, super-hard and super-tough coatings, nanocrystalline metal and composite thin films, nano-dimensional magnetic thin films, corrosion protection coatings, coatings for bio-medical applications, solar selective coatings, sol-gel hybrid coatings, cloud seeding materials and nanopowders for engineering applications,” NAL sources said.

CSIR-NAL has also demonstrated a new wear-resistant composite coating for trochoid of a Wankel engine. “We have successfully flight-tested the coating on an indigenous 55 HP rotary engine of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Nishant. The results were encouraging and we now foresee the use of this nano-coating on the engines of light-weight aircraft, micro-UAV and automobiles,” sources said.

CSIR-NAL has set its eye on developing nanowires and nanodots using anodic alumina template (AAO). “This is a very cost-effective way to grow nano-dimensional materials, which can be used for sensing gas, optical switching, biomedical sensor and storage devices,” sources said.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

GSLV-MK-III payload fairing completes acoustic tests at NAL | Inter-stages, strap-on boosters next in line for qualification process

 The GSLV MK-III payload fairing (PLF) undergoes rigorous qualification process for the flight-readiness at the Acoustic Test Facility of NAL in Bangalore. The core team and scientists associated with the project are also seen. Express Photo: Sudhakar Jain

By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service

Bangalore: Fifty scientists from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) have just completed a critical test on a gigantic piece of history directly linked to India’s GSLV MK-III mission. Sources tell Express that the payload fairing (PLF), also known as the satellite protection system or heat shield, of the GSLV Mk-III has been put through rigorous dynamic qualification by the scientists at the Acoustic Test Facility (ATF) in Belur, near Bangalore. The state-of-the-art ATF is designed and built by NAL along with ISRO, to qualify Indian satellites and launch vehicle subsystems.
The test is aimed at determining the protection of the satellite during lift-off and trans-atmospheric flight. It is being done with a dummy satellite simulating the mass and volume of the actual spacecraft which the GSLV Mk-III is intended to carry. Sources say that the launch vehicle is being designed to put into orbit satellites of 4-plus tones. “It can be a single satellite or a dual one totaling 4 tones. It is for the first time India is attempting the launch of such a massive vehicle,” sources said.
The GSLV MK-III PLF is 11-meters tall and five meters in diameter. During the tests at facility, the PLF -– a massive carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) structure -- was subjected to very-high noise levels. The vibration responses on the structure were monitored during the tests to characterize the performance of the heat shield. “Very sensitive instrumentation was used to measure vibration as low as one millionth of a ‘g’. The data collected is extensively analysed to understand the behaviour of the PLF during lift-off and the flight regime,” sources said.
The ATF is now gearing up for further qualification of the GSLV MK-III hardware such as inter-stages and strap-on boosters. “We hope to complete these tests within six months so as to be ready for the scheduled first launch of GSLV MK-II towards 2012 end,” sources said. So far, the ATF has been used to qualify Indian satellites such as IRS series, INSAT series and Chandrayaan, in addition to a few satellites for the European Space Agency.

ACOUSTIC TEST

WHY: Acoustic noise is a fast varying random pressure wave. Rocket blast creates large sound pressures, about 1,00,000 times more powerful than normal speech. This can damage the payload (satellites housed in the uppermost stage of the launch vehicle) and launch vehicle subsystems.
WHAT: An acoustic facility simulates, in a reverberation chamber, the fluctuating sound pressure field experienced by the payload/launch vehicle during lift off and atmospheric flight. The acoustic test is a major dynamic test for qualification of space systems and components.
HOW: The high intensity acoustic noise in the facility is created by modulating a stream of high pressure air using powerful electro-pneumatic transducers. These noise generators are coupled to the reverberation chamber by matched horns.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

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