Transition at DRDO bodes well for heightened indigenisation

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Avinash Chander, formerly Chief Controller Missiles and Strategic Systems at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), took over the reins of the entire setup from V K Saraswat beginning June. Chander begins his tenure as Director General (DG), DRDO, and Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister in the midst of the Defence Ministry (MoD) publicly pushing for the completion of the delayed Tejas Mk-1 programme. Naturally, the Tejas programme, given its schedules, assumes top priority for Chander who is now personally monitoring the final push towards securing the second phase of Initial Operational Clearance (IOC-2) with the Indian Air Force (IAF) for the Tejas Mk-1 by September this year. Given the sense of heightened urgency, indications are that IOC-2 will indeed be attained by September. But Chander's background as one of the prime movers behind India's rise as a missile power also bodes well for DRDO's flagship missile programmes.....

China's GDP deterrent is patent rubbish

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To term the Chinese incursion in Ladakh a localised affair doesn't cut it. The Chinese move is clearly part of a larger strategy that is trying to make India blink into making concessions elsewhere along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This move is in clear violation of established mechanisms governing India's disputed frontier with China and needs to be countered actively. Continuing with diplomatic niceties, business-as-usual visits etc while a foreign power encroaches on Indian Territory is weak policy, to put it mildly. Most Indians believe that the burden of de-escalation rests firmly on the Chinese leadership's shoulders and should naturally be symbolised with a rapid withdrawal of ingressing Chinese troops. Not that there aren't exceptions of course. And these exceptions are to be found in the op-ed pages of some of our newspapers. Such views range from trying to subtly justify the Chinese move to giving reasons....

China's likely escalation option against India: Rapid Reaction Forces

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Given that China has once again decided to 'sweeten' it's recent offer of a Panchsheel redux with a nice juicy intrusion into Indian Territory in the Daulat beg Oldie sector, I think it is time to see some of the options the Chinese military may pursue if the matter escalates. Now there has been much alarmist talk in the Indian media about how the rapid infrastructure build-up in the two Chinese military regions (MRs) - Lanzhou and Chengdu - facing India will allow the Chinese to mass 'almost half a million troops on the border' over a 30 day period. However given doctrinal changes in the Chinese Army (CA) pursuant to the reforms in its force structure and pursuit of hi-tech weaponry, it is highly unlikely that the Chinese would be looking to fight an enlarged version of the 1962 war especially in light of India's counter build-up.....

India's Nirbhay cruise missile unveiled by DRDO

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Well, the public unveiling of the Nirbhay happened yesterday and the first test didn't quite stick to the script as it were. But then, this is the first test of what seems like a contemporary and complex design and one would expect that things will be perfected over the course of more tests. Be that as it may, Nirbhay's layout conforms to the now 'classical' notion of a cruise missile as embodied by Raytheon's Tomahawk family and the Novator Alfa. Nirbhay, unlike what I had speculated before, does not have a propfan engine. Rather it is propelled by an imported turbofan at the moment. This was confirmed to me by Avinash Chander, chief controller of DRDO's missile cluster, in a recent interview for Geopolitics magazine (http://geopolitics.in/mar2013.aspx). The crash images of the Nirbhay-01 further attest to this. The fact that it does not have a podded engine or....

Trends in missile development in India: an interview with DRDO's missile man Avinash Chander

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Geek at Large caught up with Avinash Chander, Chief Controller Research and Development ( Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO, at Metcalfe House, New Delhi last week for a brief chat on some trends in India's missile programmes. His contributions to the success of India's long range ballistic missile programmes were recognised recently in the form of a Padma Shree Award. Saurav Jha: DRDO recently completed developmental tests of the K-15 even as it is moving towards canisterised systems on land. Did this move towards canisterisation grow out of DRDO's underwater launch programmes? Avinash Chander: Well, activity in this domain has been going on for sometime now. Our success with underwater launch technology did give us added confidence in the domain of canisterised systems. We are now quite confident in this area and all future Agni series missiles are likely to be canisterised and that might include the Agni-4.....

India's ballistic missile shield: DRDO: 2, Enemy missiles: 0

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Here at Geek at Large we like to follow the Defence Research and Development Organization's (DRDO's) ballistic missile defence program (BMD) rather closely. More than once in the recent past the organization has said that as far as India's long range ballistic missile programs and missile defence programs are concerned, the country is both self-sufficient as well as proficient. Today's twin intercepts - one actual and one simulated seems to attest that view. In one of the two tests conducted today, DRDO's AAD endo-atmospheric interceptor achieved a radio proximity fuse triggered explosive intercept on a target missile derived from elements of the Prithvi short range ballistic missile (SRBM) family. Do note however that this target missile is modified in a manner that allows it to re-enter at an angle of attack and at a velocity usually associated with medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) which are faster given that....

The Shale Gas Revolution in America: An Opportunity for India

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Good news is seldom expected in the world's hydrocarbon economy and the shale gas boom in North America follows that trend. The rise of this unconventional source of natural gas has created a situation whereby the United States (US) may become a net exporter of the same by 2016 thereby opening up a hitherto unexpected source of supply for gas-hungry countries such India. India, which is increasingly dependent on liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to bridge the domestic demand-supply gap, needs to diversify imports away from volatile regions and oil indexed contracts. However at the moment the US allows permit-less exports of domestic natural gas to only those countries with which it has a free trade agreement (FTA) and this is proving to be a significant hurdle for Indian majors looking to source from the US market. The changed scenario can be gauged by the fact that till even....

Guest Post 3: 'Dragon on the High Seas' by Rahul M

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Much is made of the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) (actually known simply as the Chinese Navy since 2010) modernisation and the ability of Chinese shipyards to turn out major surface and sub-surface combatants rapidly. However, beyond the hype it is perhaps time to do a more realistic appraisal of whether the PLAN is indeed all that it is made out to be, especially with reference to its purported ability to project power in the Indian Ocean now or in the near future. In this two part guest post, Rahul M takes a closer look at China's naval buildup with the first part focusing on surface capabilities. China entered the 90's with a navy that was technology-wise still stuck in the 60's and 70's. In a similarity that it incidentally shared with India, the navy was the most neglected branch of the military and starved of funds....

Agni II test by Strategic Forces Command proves reliability

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Well, the Agni-II intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) was tested from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha today and this happens to be the third successful training launch of this missile by India's Strategic Forces Command (SFC). This launch will certainly go a long way in burying the ghost of the two infamous failed launches of 2009 that had made some doubt in varying measures either the Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO's) design capabilities or the quality of India's missile production line. This third successful launch in a row by the intended user i.e the SFC of a production stock missile of course lays to rest such apprehensions. Reliability is after all a religion in the realm of strategic deterrence. SFC launches are typically dubbed as a 'user training exercise' by the Ministry of Defence because that is precisely what they are. Such....

Guest Post 2: 'The Indian missile shield: nothing to be baffled about' by Mihir Shah

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Last Month, India Today carried a column by Manoj Joshi that was rather critical of the Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO's) ballistic missile defence (BMD) program. Joshi argued that DRDO's claims about the BMD shield being ready after just six tests, in what appear to be controlled conditions, were unrealistic; that a project of such strategic importance lacked proper direction from the outset; and even questioned the need for such a system in the Indian context. Be that as it may I felt that it would be good if a different perspective was brought to the fore that diverged with the opinions expressed in Joshi's piece and furthered the debate on what is by any account a most significant programme for India's strategic security. In today's guest post we have Mihir Shah responding to Joshi's assertion and rebutting some of the points expressed by him on....