INTERVIEW: We want to standardize our weapon programmes: DRDO Chief Dr Christopher

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Bengaluru, July 01: Barely a month after taking over the reins of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr Sargunaraj Christopher says that he is keen to cruise on a flightpath that’s less complicated.

In his first interview to media after taking over as the Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Director-General, DRDO, Dr Christopher said he has set his focus on touching base with labs that were crying for attention.

“I am definitely in the process of hearing from small labs that a DRDO chief never visited in the last many, many years. I am devoting my Sundays now to spend time for such labs, which contributed to DRDO silently but never got any attention,” says Dr Christopher.

Size doesn’t matter, delivery is the key: He said there are many small labs that are constantly innovating and receiving laurels from the users. “Performance is the key for DRDO now, whether it is a small lab with 50 people or a massive complex with 5000 people,” he says.

To a specific query from this Correspondent, whether the DRDO has put its hands on too many projects, Dr Christopher said: “I have already assessed the ground situation and you will see some initiatives very soon. Two-three labs working together on major programmes will become order of the day.”

To another query of DRDO often making tall claims before achieving the final goal, Dr Christopher refused to give a direct response. “Delivery is the key. I don’t want to stand on the top of the roof and make tall claims. I am prioritizing my goals,” the DRDO chief said.

Missile programmes slow on production front: Admitting that the some of the missile programmes are extremely slow on the production front, Dr Christopher said he had already taken stock of the projects during his recent visit to the Missile Complex in Hyderabad.

“Too many varieties and even the RM (Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar) have opined his views. We want several types of weapons. We are looking for standardizing our weapon programmes by clubbing them together. The idea is to make our weapons more efficient and make them in more numbers,” says Dr Christopher, a native of Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu.

He said he has set his vision to make standard production lines for faster delivery of DRDO-developed weapon systems.

To another query whether the Missile Complex enjoyed additional powers owing to the size and success of its programmes, the DRDO Chief said: “The IDGMP (Integrated Development of Guided Missile Programme) as envisioned by Dr Kalam was good. Now we need to put more impetus. Out of the total Rs 1,70,000 crore order value of DRDO systems now, almost 60 per cent comes from Missile Complex. No preferential treatment is given to any clusters.”

Tejas MK-2 is the future: On the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, the DRDO Chief said that the programme has reached the final lap.

“Tejas Mk-1 is almost there and by March 2016 the FOC will be in. We have already begun the work on the next version. Tejas Mk-2 is the future,” says the 60-year-old top radar scientist, who was appointed as the DRDO Chief recently.

He said he has already started the exercise of communicating to the youngsters in DRDO.

“I have started the exercise of meeting my people. I am spreading the message that we are second to none. I have told my team members that DRDO should achieve a milestone every three months,” Dr Christopher concluded.

Copyright@OneIndia

CAG report bangs ADA & HAL; says Tejas Mk-1 will have limited EW capabilities

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Bengaluru, May 08: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Friday came down heavily on the progress of India’s home-grown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas programme.

In its report ‘Design, Development, Manufacture and Induction of Light Combat Aircraft,’ tabled in Parliament today, the CAG says Tejas Mk-1 has many shortfalls and electronics warfare (EW) limitations.

It says both the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) and Final Operational Clearance (FOC) versions of has shortfalls in meeting the engine thrust. Other parameters with concerns are weight of the aircraft, fuel capacity, pilot protection from front against 7.62 mm bullets etc.

“The self-protection jammer which was originally to be fitted on LCA Mark-I is now planned to be fitted on LCA Mark-II. Thus the 40 LCA Mark-I would be provided only with Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) Tarang-1B and deficient of self-protection jammer, thus limiting its electronic warfare capabilities,” the report says.

The report says with these shortfalls the IAF would be constrained to use 40 LCA Mk-I aircraft with limited operational capabilities.

LCA Mk-2 will fulfil ASR: “The LCA Mark-II being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is expected to meet the Air Staff Requirement (ASR),” the report says.

The report went on to add that the delays in identification, replacement and addition of weapons by IAF and their integration as per IAF requirement, to make the aircraft contemporary, also added to the worries.

“In addition, there have been delays in completion of work packages by various work centres, which indicated ineffective monitoring of the project by the Ministry of Defence,” says the report.

HAL delayed augmenting production capacity: Taking on Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), the report says that the company delayed setting up of a production facility which had the capacity of manufacturing eight LCAs per annum.

“The delay in production capacity augmentation had impacted the formation of LCA Squadrons. Further, there has been delay in the manufacture and supply of series production aircraft due to delayed LCA development,” says the report.

The 63-page report is signed by Rajiv Kumar Pandey, Principal Director of Audit (Air Force) and counter-signed by Shashi Kant Sharma, the CAG of India.

It further says that the delay in Tejas induction has forced the IAF to upgrade MiG Bis, MiG-29, Mirage-2000 and Jaguar aircraft at a cost of Rs 20,037 crore and revise phasing out of MiG-21 to ensure credible combat potential.

“LCA was crucial for maintaining the operational preparedness of IAF in order to overcome the drawdown of squadron strength permanently. The LCA programme needs to be expeditiously completed to cater to the needs of the defence forces so as to avoid import of the fighter aircraft of this class and to ensure self-reliance in the long run,” the report adds.

Sub-systems developed with imported components: Banging ADA further, the report says that though the makers claimed achieving 70 per cent indigenisation, half of these sub-systems were developed with imported electronic components and accessories etc.

“The LCA programme suffered major setbacks in the indigenous development of Kaveri engine, Multi-Mode Radar, self-protection jammer, etc. The proposal for indigenous development of 109 LRUs was pending approval since February 2014,” it says.

Chinese article says Tejas ‘fighter of tomorrow’: Interestingly, the CAG report on LCA shortfalls comes days after a Chinese termed Tejas a fighter of the future. The Chinese report in Sina's Chinese-language military portal, has already going viral on social media sites.

The article has compared the abilities of Tejas and the FC-1 Xiaolong/JF-17 Thunder jointly developed China and Pakistan.

The article has compared the features of both fighter, including the aerodynamic configuration, inlet design, materials, propulsion systems, avionics and flight control systems, flight control systems and combat ability.

In conclusion, the Chinese article terms Tejas as a light multirole fighter ‘fit for the 21st century.’

“The Xiaolong is a third-generation model designed for the international market. The use of off-the-shelf materials not only cuts costs but also reduces risks in the design process and improves the reliability of the aircraft. This will not make it the best aircraft, but rather a standard, cheap and reliable model for air-to-air combat. In summation, the Xiaolong is the aircraft of today and the Tejas is the aircraft of tomorrow,” says the Chinese article.

The show will go on; FOC is the key for us now: When the response to CAG report was sought from a top scientist associated with the project, he first refused to comment saying: “I haven’t seen it.”

When this correspondent read out the key portions of the report, the scientist agreed to comment on condition of not being named.

“We are used to the CAG reports now. The current report was supposed to have reviewed by the Secretary (Department of Defence R&D) and we are not sure whether it was done. What I understand is that the review hasn’t happened and due to deadline pressures the report has been tabled in the Parliament,” the scientist claimed.

When specifically asked whether the report will dampen the spirit of the team engrossed in the FOC activities of Tejas, the scientist said: “One report or any reports in the future cannot stop our scheduled activities. We have come this far and have probably entered the last lap of Tejas Mk-1 development phase. The show will go on.”

To a query on the EW limitations on Tejas Mk-I, as remarked by the CAG report, the scientist said: “Yes, we agree as of now it is not there on Tejas. But that’s not going to weaken the platform. Yes we agree if the EW was there, it would have been more appealing.”

(The above report first went live on OneIndia on May 8, 2015)  

Tejas Mk-II preliminary design to be ready by next month

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is giving the final touches to the preliminary design of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk-II, scheduled to be completed by the end of March. An official confirmed to Express on Saturday that the detailed design phase of LCA Mk-2 would begin in the second quarter of 2014. A separate project team from ADA and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), dedicated to the upgraded version, is currently undertaking daily reviews to get the first cut of the design out by next month.

The main scope of Tejas Mk-2 programme is to have the engine changed from the current GE F-404 to GE F-414. A development contract for eight engines for the preliminary design phase has already been signed with GE, with the critical design review already been completed at its Boston facility. The Mk-II fighter will have OBOGS (Onboard Oxygen Generating System), which is being developed by Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (DEBEL), a Bangalore-based Defence Research and Development Organisation lab. "Currently, the ground development is over for OBOGS and the systems are undergoing various stages of qualification process," an official who wished not to be named, said.

Tejas Mk-II will have a unified electronic warfare system aimed at detecting and ducking enemy radar and later jamming it. "It is likely to be the most maintenance-friendly aircraft in its class and all equipment onboard can be easily removed or re-installed smoothly. The Tejas MK-I has some scope for improving the maintenance aspects, which is being addressed in Mk-II," the official said. 

Her promises to make Tejas Mk-II free from any kind of dead weight. "The Mk-I has some dead weight in the form of lead plates installed to balance the aircraft which will disappear in Mk-II. It will also have considerable amount of extra fuel capability in operational clean configuration," he added.

The point performance of Mk-II will be higher than Mk-I, which means the aircraft will have better rate of climb, transonic acceleration and turn rates. The new version will have an in-flight refueling system and the ADA-HAL combine is planning to take a new route for Mk-II production. "We are going for the DFMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) technique for the production of Mk-II. The DFMA concept will be used for the first time for an Indian aviation programme, which will decrease the production time and cost, also increase the quality quotient," the official said.

With the avionics systems changing at a faster rate leading to technology obsolescence, the makers of Tejas have an uphill task of making the fighter contemporary even in the 2025s. "We will straight away get on to the production phase after the prototypes complete the required test flights. The The Indian Air Force (IAF) support is a huge factor for the Mk-2 project with some cost being shared by them. It shows the confidence the user has in us. Tejas will be the mainstay for IAF in the long run," he said.

The Mk-II project was sanctioned in 2009 at a cost about of Rs 2400 crore and post-design finalisation phase, two prototypes are set to roll out from the HAL hangars. The IAF has committed a minimum of squadrons of Tejas Mk-2.

Copyright@The New Indian Express