Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) : News and Updates

Chain Smoker said:
One thing I don't understand stand that why jammer cannot be used as ESM?
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As long as it's a TR module, it can perform ESM. But whether it actually does that is just speculation, because the aircraft will obviously have dedicated receivers for the same.

The issue with older tech is when an antenna is transmitting, it cannot receive. You can only do one or the other. This was how it worked for decades. So, when jamming, you obviously need the receiver receiving the signal without interruption for the suite to create new jamming signals, so you can't use the same antenna for both functions.

Today we have STAR antennas which can simultaneously transmit and receive. So it is possible for a jammer to perform both functions at the same time, but there could be some kind of interference or negative effect when doing this.
 
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randomradio said:
As long as it's a TR module, it can perform ESM. But whether it actually does that is just speculation, because the aircraft will obviously have dedicated receivers for the same.

The issue with older tech is when an antenna is transmitting, it cannot receive. You can only do one or the other. This was how it worked for decades. So, when jamming, you obviously need the receiver receiving the signal without interruption for the suite to create new jamming signals, so you can't use the same antenna for both functions.

Today we have STAR antennas which can simultaneously transmit and receive. So it is possible for a jammer to perform both functions at the same time, but there could be some kind of interference or negative effect when doing this.
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If it's not performing ECM then it can work in passive mode as ESM right?
 
SSPL has sent out a series of EoIs to find out about Indian companies that produce the following:
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A look at the technologies involved tells you that these are components for RF/IIR seekers & sensors. SSPL intends to do some technological hand holding to get some Indian companies to enter these segments & strengthen those that are already in this sector.
 
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CHESS has put out tenders for 2 units of Optical tables with a honey comb structure & active vibrational control.
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Specs of the table & vibration isolation support:
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Which laser is this for ? Look at the size of that Optical table (3 m x 1.5 m). The only known Indian laser of that's remotely tis big is the 100 kW ADITYA laser. The active vibration isolation system in the tender has a 6 legged design, ADITYA has a 4 legged vibration isolation system.
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This new laser system is probably bigger & more powerful than the ADITYA. In the photo below you can see the optical table (top arrow) & the active vibration isolation system marked with arrows.
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Also a lot of focus on damping the acoustics by using epoxy resins, wooden particle boards, nylon cups & what not. Is this system meant for naval use ? A land based system hardly needs acoustic quieting at all.

The P-18 class destroyers are supposed to have laser DEWs. The recent tender from the Navy for the 4 LPD/LHD also includes the provision for replacing the CIWS by laser DEWs. I wonder if they managed to scale up the solid state lasers to this level of power or are we still going with a gas dynamic laser.
 
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Gautam said:
CHESS has put out tenders for 2 units of Optical tables with a honey comb structure & active vibrational control.
View attachment 21267

Specs of the table & vibration isolation support:
View attachment 21268
Which laser is this for ? Look at the size of that Optical table (3 m x 1.5 m). The only known Indian laser of that's remotely tis big is the 100 kW ADITYA laser. The active vibration isolation system in the tender has a 6 legged design, ADITYA has a 4 legged vibration isolation system.
View attachment 21270
This new laser system is probably bigger & more powerful than the ADITYA. In the photo below you can see the optical table (top arrow) & the active vibration isolation system marked with arrows.
View attachment 21269
Also a lot of focus on damping the acoustics by using epoxy resins, wooden particle boards, nylon cups & what not. Is this system meant for naval use ? A land based system hardly needs acoustic quieting at all.

The P-18 class destroyers are supposed to have laser DEWs. The recent tender from the Navy for the 4 LPD/LHD also includes the provision for replacing the CIWS by laser DEWs. I wonder if they managed to scale up the solid state lasers to this level of power or are we still going with a gas dynamic laser.
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It could be 50 kw solid state laser with ship motion compensation.
 
Gautam said:
The optical table would be too big for that. It is half the power of the ADITYA & a solid state laser. It is likely to be significantly smaller than the ADITYA.
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No sense in using GDL that too in ship it is too bulky I think this is something else.
 
Chain Smoker said:
No sense in using GDL that too in ship it is too bulky I think this is something else.
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I don't think we have managed to scale up our solid state designs to 100 kW power level. It would be difficult to have practical CIWS use for a naval laser if it isn't at that level.

I suppose you could mount 2 units of the 50 kW laser on the same optical table. Get them to work independently or together on the same target. We have done that before, remember this ?
1633445481082.png

Here you have 2 units of 5 kW solid state lasers making up for a 10 kW system. Making it a very potent counter drone system with limited C-RAM capabilities.

Or maybe this new platform is for testing a more powerful single unit solid state laser. We will get more details when they start testing.
 
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Gautam said:
I don't think we have managed to scale up our solid state designs to 100 kW power level. It would be difficult to have practical CIWS use for a naval laser if it isn't at that level.

I suppose you could mount 2 units of the 50 kW laser on the same optical table. Get them to work independently or together on the same target. We have done that before, remember this ?
View attachment 21283
Here you have 2 units of 5 kW solid state lasers making up for a 10 kW system. Making it a very potent counter drone system with limited C-RAM capabilities.

Or maybe this new platform is for testing a more powerful single unit solid state laser. We will get more details when they start testing.
Click to expand...

Lasers can be scaled up to any number you want, depending on how much power and space you are willing to provide.

Lasers superimpose. So you can use 6 20KW lasers to create a single beam of 120KW. It's no different from how multiple 5W T/R modules on radars can create a single main beam of many kilowatts or even megawatts.
 
randomradio said:
Yep. Like the one from Half-Life 2. :p

Like 5 seconds.
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I thik SAAB RBS70 is one such system. Laser guided munitions are another story, but laser guided manpads will have severe short comings in our case. Usage along LoC and LAC will be affected due to weather conditions.

Something like IGLA if we are looking at shoulder firing capabilities or Star Streak if we are looking to mount it on Tunguska /strela carrier systems.
 
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Ankit Kumar said:
Laser beam riding MANPAD ?
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There are 2 MANPAD missiles under development. One is definitely a IIR seeker guided, may be the other has a SAL seeker.
randomradio said:
Lasers can be scaled up to any number you want, depending on how much power and space you are willing to provide.

Lasers superimpose. So you can use 6 20KW lasers to create a single beam of 120KW. It's no different from how multiple 5W T/R modules on radars can create a single main beam of many kilowatts or even megawatts.
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I was talking about scaling up a single solid state laser generator to 100kW level. Of course you can get multiple units & increase the effective power output. That is one of the many benefits of DEWs.

But the problem with scaling up a single solid state laser generator is that the amplifier crystals tend to re-arrange their lattices or melt outright. Right now that problem is being solved by using better cooling systems. In the future we need to come up with amplifier crystals that are thermodynamically much more stable.
randomradio said:
25, 26 and 45 are very interesting too. Looks like comm upgrade is progressing quickly.
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Yep.
 
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Ankit Kumar said:
I thik SAAB RBS70 is one such system. Laser guided munitions are another story, but laser guided manpads will have severe short comings in our case. Usage along LoC and LAC will be affected due to weather conditions.

Something like IGLA if we are looking at shoulder firing capabilities or Star Streak if we are looking to mount it on Tunguska /strela carrier systems.
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Star-streak is amazing tech. Why we are not doing a JV with Bae and producing it when they are offering us escapes me.
 
Lolwa said:
Star-streak is amazing tech. Why we are not doing a JV with Bae and producing it when they are offering us escapes me.
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Unique system. Unique advantages and unique disadvantages.

Somewhere before I wrote about how buying old shilka Self propelled artillery piece and adding two Star Streak tubes to it to create a unique and reliable mobile VSHORDs.
 
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