DRDO chief defends proposed JVs to boost aerospace products
13 Feb 2013 5:22 AM IST
The two recent joint venture (JV) proposals that have recently been turned down by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) have been done on the basis of ‘national security interest.’ This was stated last week by the Scientific Adviser to the defence minister and DRDO director general, Dr VK Saraswat in Bangalore.
The two proposed joint ventures, between Mahindra & Mahindra and the Israeli missile maker, Rafael, besides Larsen & Toubro and EADS, the European consortium in aerospace products, including fighter aircrafts, were turned down by the FIPB in December last.
Saraswat also wanted to prove a point that the DRDO was working with a large number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) domestically. He thus told mediamen, ‘There are 657 industrial organisations taking part in Aero-India ’13, who work with the DRDO regularly.’
The proposed indigenous AWACS porogramme of the DRDO that was recently shown a green light by the central government only recently, ‘will be integrated by private interest.’ Stung by delays and slippages in quality while working with the defence public sector units (DPSUs), the DRDO is now courting domestic industrial units for technology and product development partnerships.
For example, the surveillance aerostats that are being developed to be deployed mostly in the north-eastern borders of the country, have been stuck for two years on account of the fact that the right fabric for these balloon like equipments is not available within the country. Also, the hydrogen gas that is to keep these aerostats afloat is being sought to be made non-inflammable and stable. Saraswat said this while answering a specific question posed by a media person.
He also talked about a new programme: an anti-cruise missile system. The primary area of research in this proposal is about ‘threat detection at the right time.’
He also said that the DRDO is now being more discerning in choosing select programmes. ‘We have developed a scale for judging programmes on 1-10 scale. Those (R&D programmes) that are at four or below are not taken up by the organisation. Only those at five and above are undertaken by us.’
The two proposed joint ventures, between Mahindra & Mahindra and the Israeli missile maker, Rafael, besides Larsen & Toubro and EADS, the European consortium in aerospace products, including fighter aircrafts, were turned down by the FIPB in December last.
Saraswat also wanted to prove a point that the DRDO was working with a large number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) domestically. He thus told mediamen, ‘There are 657 industrial organisations taking part in Aero-India ’13, who work with the DRDO regularly.’
The proposed indigenous AWACS porogramme of the DRDO that was recently shown a green light by the central government only recently, ‘will be integrated by private interest.’ Stung by delays and slippages in quality while working with the defence public sector units (DPSUs), the DRDO is now courting domestic industrial units for technology and product development partnerships.
For example, the surveillance aerostats that are being developed to be deployed mostly in the north-eastern borders of the country, have been stuck for two years on account of the fact that the right fabric for these balloon like equipments is not available within the country. Also, the hydrogen gas that is to keep these aerostats afloat is being sought to be made non-inflammable and stable. Saraswat said this while answering a specific question posed by a media person.
He also talked about a new programme: an anti-cruise missile system. The primary area of research in this proposal is about ‘threat detection at the right time.’
He also said that the DRDO is now being more discerning in choosing select programmes. ‘We have developed a scale for judging programmes on 1-10 scale. Those (R&D programmes) that are at four or below are not taken up by the organisation. Only those at five and above are undertaken by us.’
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