Swadeshi pride vs software stability? Army keeps DRDO on toes over UAV Nishant induction

 (Above) A rare photo of Nishant captured soon after its release from a mobile launcher. (Below) Indian Army officials inspect unmanned aerial vehicle Nishant during confirmatory trials at Pokhran.
Photo: Ministry of Defence

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: The Indian Army is yet to induct the desi Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Nishant even after completing the confirmatory trials in Pokhran and Chandan ranges in February this year. Its makers in Bangalore – the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) – a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) installation, had then gone to the town trumpeting the UAV's success.
“The successful flight trials were conducted by the Army before taking delivery of a set of four Nishant together with ground support equipment (GSE). The performance of the pay load sensors in particular has been better than even the imported UAVs with the Army . It is expected that more of such equipment will soon be purchased (read as eight) by the users," the DRDO had said in an official release issued in February.
While the ADE top brass refused to any share information, sighting the sensitives involved at this stage, sources in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in New Delhi confirmed to The New Indian Express, that post-confirmatory trials, another last set of evaluation was also done by the Indian Army in September this year, at two DRDO labs. “As far as we know, the final tests were for electro-magnetic interference (EMI), electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC) and maintenance evaluation trials (MET),” MoD sources said.
The General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQR) for the Nishant project was given to the DRDO by the Indian Army in 1999, soon after the developmental trails were over. While, some quarters blame the Army for changing the GSQRs a number of times, the DRDO too was accused of taking too much time in executing the technology changes.
The four Nishants waiting to be inducted, at a cost of Rs 80 crore, have onboard a forward looking infra red (FLIR) camera which would aid night operations. The upgraded Nishant can spot a tank-size object at a slant range of six-seven km while flying at an altitude of of 1.5 km.
While the DRDO might be pondering over the induction procedures of Army, sources indicate that a decision would be officially announced within two months. The DRDO is pitching hard on Nishant's USPs, including low repair cost and quick software maintenance modes. On its part, the Indian Army is ensuring that they have a UAV loaded with their choice of features – and not one thrust upon them to satisfy the swadeshi pride, but operational efficiencies.
Army had issues with Nishant's video and tracking qualities, which the DRDO now says are all fixed.The Indian Army might place an order for eight more Nishants, including GSE, at a cost of Rs 160 crore, once the much-awaited induction of first four is over.

NISHANT TIMELINES

Sanctioned as a development project: 1991
Development trials: 1999
User evaluation & trials: 2000-2002
Firm Army order for 4 LSPs: 2006
Value of the order: Rs 80 crore
Confirmatory trials: 2010-2011
Post-confirmatory tests: September 2011
Total R&D cost so far: Rs 60 crore
Likely additional orders: 8
(Source: Ministry of Defence)

Copyright@The New Indian Express

Tarmak007 news updates

FEB 2 JINXED? Another crash on February 2! Army Aviation Corps lost two pilots when a Cheetah helicopter nosedived into a civilian area near Gandhinagar airfield on February 2. Military sources say that the The Cheetah attached to the Jodhpur air base was on its way to Bangalore to partake in Aero India 2011. Army Aviation was planning to position it in the static display area. The pilots, Major Atul Garje and Major Banupratap Gupta of the 669 Army Aviation squadron, Nagtalao, Jodhpur, took off from their base two days ago. After a brief break at Nashik, they took off on February 2 morning to Bangalore, with a possible break in Goa. On February 2, 2007 an ALH of Sarang team had crashed killing Sqn Ldr Priye Sharma and sending Wg Cdr Vikas Jetly into a coma for four years. Jetly died on January 11, 2010. Wednesday's crash, according to initial reports, is possibly due to a technical snag. R.I.P. 

NISHANT FLIGHT TRIALS: Nishant, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has successfully completed the series of confirmatory trials conducted by the Indian Army at Chandan Range Pokharan recently.         The successful flight trials were conducted by the Army before taking delivery of a set of four Nishant – UAVs together with ground systems.  The performance of the pay load sensors in particular has been better than even the imported UAVs with the Army. It is expected that more of such equipment will soon be purchased by the users.  (Press release)

EMBRAER@AERO INDIA: Embraer will display its full portfolio of products – from executive, airline, defense and security segments – at Aero India 2011, the first time these aircraft have appeared at an air show in India. “We are coming to India with a Phenom 100, Phenom 300, Lineage 1000, and the latest jet in our suite – the Legacy 650 – which was certified in October 2010. All these will be at the static display area. This time, we are focusing clearly on the executive jet segment and on the defense and security area,” an Embraer official tells Aviation Week. With a strong presence in the Indian market, Embraer has placed products with both national government agencies and private companies. The company has made particularly significant progress in the executive aviation sector. Key customers in India which operate the Phenom 100 include Aviators India Pvt. Ltd. and Invision Pvt. Ltd. The latter received the first two Phenom 100s in India, part of a total order for 18 Phenom 100s and two Phenom 300s. (Full Report)

MICA

MBDA EYES IAF: In an effort to expand in the Indian defense market, European missile maker MBDA is eyeing the immediate needs of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Loic Piedevache, head of MBDA India, told reporters Jan. 31 that the company wants to position itself as a leading local player backing India’s missile programs. “It could be through joint ventures, co-development, transfer of technology and through enhanced cooperation with Indian defense public sector undertaking,” Piedevache says. “Considering the defense and aerospace growth in India, we are offering some of the best systems. We are keen to invest more in Indian market.”

NEW BEL UNIT IN KERALA: Indian defense public sector undertaking (PSU) Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) expects to open its new facility in the southern Indian state of Kerala, on Feb. 8. Research and Development Director I.V. Sarma tells Aviation Week that the facility, known as the Product Support Center, will be in the high-technology park promoted by the Kerala government and run by Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp. Defense Minister A.K. Antony will open the facility, which is at Kalamassery, near Kochi. BEL is said to have invested around Rs 6 crore ($1.3 million) for the center to build infrastructure and test equipment. (Full Report)

Nishant trials sucessful at Kolar; UAV flew with structural health monitoring tech for 2.3 hours

(DRDO Press Release & Photo)

ADE has conducted Nishant trials on N15-32 (28.10.2010) at Kolar Airfield in which a technology break through has been achieved.  A new technology called the Structural Health Monitoring has been developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) & National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) for the monitoring of structural health parameters while the UAV is in flight.  This break through enables the structural health of aeronautical structures to be monitored, so that online health can be monitored and online and corrective action for the flight can be taken.  This enables the aircraft to be flown without unnecessarily grounding them.   Analysis algorithms have been developed to predict onset of failures which would be perfected using the data obtained through today’s flight.  Usage of such techniques will avoid periodic grounding of the aircraft and make the maintenance schedules to be more like “on condition maintenance”, the condition being detected even before the failure occurs. It will avoid unnecessary grounding of aircraft for inspection. Such a monitoring can be used for LCA, MCA, FGFA and other UAVs. Such techniques are going to be extensively used in the future in order to cut down the operation costs of the aircraft and can also lead to reduction in airfares.   Such techniques can prevent ensuing danger of the flights by pre-warning the occurance of failure.