Indian Defense Industry General News and Updates

Gautam said:
EO pods are probably the only kind of aerial pod DRDO hasn't developed yet. DRDO already has EW & ESM pods in various stages of induction. There was a SAR pod for Su-30MKI under development too. Since 2013-14 there has been no further updates on that.

For EO pods we remain reliant on Israeli & French companies. BEL had tried developing a EO pod by themselves, couldn't get the IAF or IN interested. I believe DRDO will jump in whenever IAF begins looking for replacements for the Rafael Litening pods. Ideally you'd want to start early & have a product ready before the IAF starts looking for replacements. But I don't think we will see that kind of initiative.
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It’s really hard to predict the expectations of a customer who does shopping based on DefExpo brochures.
DRDO,Kalyani, Tonbo, BEL etc have burned a lot of cash doing so in past.

They just don’t know what they need and come up with outrageous and quite frankly stupid demands like Multi-barrel rifles, A howitzer lighter and better than M777 but 10% of its cost, A towed artillary like ATHOS but twice of it’s range and half of it’s weight again at 10% of it’s price and must be made of WW1 era tech for supreme reliability.

They have stupid for weapon selection like L1 selection and automatic cancellation of whole tender if only one weapon qualifies their decade long trials.

That’s the reason many International manufacturers have stopped responding to any RFI from Indian Army.
 
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Gautam said:
EO pods are probably the only kind of aerial pod DRDO hasn't developed yet. DRDO already has EW & ESM pods in various stages of induction. There was a SAR pod for Su-30MKI under development too. Since 2013-14 there has been no further updates on that.

For EO pods we remain reliant on Israeli & French companies. BEL had tried developing a EO pod by themselves, couldn't get the IAF or IN interested. I believe DRDO will jump in whenever IAF begins looking for replacements for the Rafael Litening pods. Ideally you'd want to start early & have a product ready before the IAF starts looking for replacements. But I don't think we will see that kind of initiative.
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Well seems like there is multi spectral pod but it's not confirmed whether it's common aperture or not.
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Light weight electro optical payload - Copy.jpg
 
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Chain Smoker said:
New UAV?
EXPERIMENTAL AIRFRAME FOR UAV.
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ADE stated in an AeroIndia that they were interested in building a single engine fixed wind drone with a push propeller configuration. It was meant to be larger than the Rustom (probably to carry weapons) but smaller than Tapas. With various Indian UAV engines now available they should be going for that drone. That's what comes 2 mind when looking at this document.

They tender calls for building 2 airframes based on ADE's design. The drone will have EO, radar & communication payloads. Fuel tanks & engine mounting frames are also being made. So engine is chosen. Various other testing & production fixtures are also to be made. From the looks of it they want to flight test a MALE recon drone. Its hard to say it it can/will be armed.
 
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Gautam said:
ADE stated in an AeroIndia that they were interested in building a single engine fixed wind drone with a push propeller configuration. It was meant to be larger than the Rustom (probably to carry weapons) but smaller than Tapas. With various Indian UAV engines now available they should be going for that drone. That's what comes 2 mind when looking at this document.

They tender calls for building 2 airframes based on ADE's design. The drone will have EO, radar & communication payloads. Fuel tanks & engine mounting frames are also being made. So engine is chosen. Various other testing & production fixtures are also to be made. From the looks of it they want to flight test a MALE recon drone. Its hard to say it it can/will be armed.
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Then we have 220 hp engine powered rustom 2 as well and what about archer UAV whose eoi was release few days ago.
 

India's DCM Shriram buys 30% stake in Turkish drone maker​

The brief, but intense, war between Armenia and Azerbaijan last year was watched closely for the way Azerbaijan used drones. The extensive use of drones by Azerbaijan for intelligence gathering, ground-attack missions and even Kamikaze missions was considered one of the main reasons behind its victory in the conflict.

In addition to drones from Israel, long considered a UAV superpower, Azerbaijan had also used drones purchased from Turkey. The performance of the Turkish drones attracted worldwide attention. Turkish drones had also been used in the conflicts in Libya and Syria to attack Russian-designed tanks and air defence systems.

On August 18, the Indian embassy in Turkey tweeted about a "new beginning". The embassy was referring to news of an Indian company investing in a Turkish drone maker.

DCM Shriram signed a partnership deal with Turkey's Zyrone Dynamics on the sidelines of the International Defense Industries Fair (IDEF) in Istanbul.

DCM Shriram is investing $1 million in Zyrone Dynamics, taking a 30 per cent stake in the company. Murat Kanber, co-founder of Zyrone Dynamics, was quoted by Turkey's Anadolu Agency as saying, "Both sides’ expectation is the creation of products for civilian use, especially for cargo transportation... Now Zyrone will sell its products to India and its neighbors in the Asian market, after which it also hopes to export drones to Europe and Australia."

Speaking on behalf of DCM Shriram, Rudra Shriram said "The partnership is more than just an investment; it is about creating a global UAV company for various applications in civilian and military fields."

Zyrone Dynamics specialises in the manufacture of small rotary-wing drones. Zyrone Dynamics has been promoting small drones that it calls 'variable volume' UAVs.

A variable volume drone is similar to a 'tilt-rotor' aircraft like the US V-22 Osprey that can take off and land like a normal helicopter but can tilt its rotors forward inflight and fly like a normal aircraft, ensuring a helicopter’s operational versatility and a fixed-wing aircraft’s speed. CNN Tukey in 2019 noted, "A variable-volume UAV… can hover like a rotary-wing UAV, while it can cruise at long ranges and high altitudes like a fixed-wing UAV. In this way, in missions that require narrow space and short range, the aircraft can perform the necessary manoeuvres and hover in the air. It can perform tasks that start in narrow areas and continue in rural areas without the need for another platform."
www.theweek.in

India's DCM Shriram buys 30% stake in Turkish drone maker

DCM Shriram is investing $1 million in Zyrone Dynamics
www.theweek.in www.theweek.in
 
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Here is what BEL has been up to recently:
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BEL has introduced a new panoramic NVD. Wonder if its a dual tube NVD with larger objectives or quad tube NVD. I hope its not the old single tube again.
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Quantum cryptography, photonics radars & ESMs, High power lasers, LiDARs, 5G comms. MoD has recently started funding 5G comms & Quantum cryptigraphy. Lasers have recieved funding for a decade now. Photonics is a new addition.
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Interesting, a new multi function fire control radar is being made for the VL-SRSAM. The naval variant will use the MF-STAR. This new radar must be for the ground variant.
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@Chain Smoker look a new DIRCM is in the making:
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Lt. Gen Anil Kapoor visited BEL & observed a demonstration of the BEL Remote Controlled Weapon System (RCWS):
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Expansion of Cochin Shipyard Ltd. (CSL)
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HAL Dhruv naval helo prototype with the folded tail:
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As was reported previously by LiveFist, HAL continues to work on an amphibious version of the Dornier Do-228 aircraft:

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When announced in 2017, HAL's plan was looking for design consultancy from foreign OEMs to develop an amphibious version of the Do-228. Not sure if that has panned out or not. The statement above doesn't resolve the ambiguity.

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In Aero India 2017 HAL revealed that there is a new clean sheet design for amphibious plane coming up. The poster above shows the tentative set up HAL was looking at then. Making the Do-228 amphibious will be a good starting point for any future clean sheet design.

Read the article here : EXCLUSIVE: As India-Japan Deal Drifts, HAL Amphibian Aircraft Plan Surfaces

The HAWK-i is being used as a test platform for many of HAL's new avionics:
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Ashwin said:
Actually, the solution is different. Cut democratic delays and pay them in time. Irrespective of ts PSU or Private sector.
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There is no doubt that payment should be on time, but we made procedures in such a way that it cannot happens with any purchase be it military or be it a psu. More than delay in payment, our militaries habits of pulling back from tender is the main arena for worry. Whatever be the reason , we did pull out from mmrca tendering after around 10 yrs of tortuous processes, we did pull multiple times from purchasing new howitzer, and companies like Tonbo passes through such event, they even issue a tweet on the same.
 
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