The biennial event which completed its 14th edition in Bengaluru witnessed the largest participation of the contingent from the United States of America for the first time ever in Aero India.

Aerobatics performed by the metal birds enthralled the onlookers who had gathered in huge numbers on the last day at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in the city. India’s indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, light combat helicopters and light utility helicopters developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited were part of the show.

Besides, Rafale jets and Sukhoi aircrafts put up an impressive show during the event.
However, the most notable was the presence of F-35, B-1B Lancers, the F-16 and F-18 which too participated in the show.

Sorties by vintage aircrafts, aerobatics by Surya Kiran team of the IAF, which flew the Hawk aircrafts and Sarang (meaning peacock in Sanskrit) display team of the IAF using the HAL developed Dhruv helicopters left the audience spellbound.

The five-day event saw a number of seminars such as Manthan and Bandhan where deliberations were held on a range of subjects including India’s self-reliance programme, indigenous development of futuristic aerospace technology, India’s space initiatives, advancement in maritime surveillance system, investment opportunities in Karnataka.

There was a huge turnout at the exhibitions and displays by various companies during the show. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Indian Space Research Organisation, Bharat Electronics Limited, Defence Research and Development Organisation were among those who put up their stalls.

As many as 266 partnerships including 201 MoUs, 53 major announcements and nine product launches were firmed up at the Aero India that could unlock business potentials worth around Rs 80,000 crore. The MoUs included one between Hindustan Aeronautics and Safran Helicopter Engines of France for work share for formation of joint venture for design, development, manufacture and life time support of helicopter engines.

The agreements and the MoUs were formally signed at an event titled “Bandhan” ceremony that was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, top leaders of Indian defence industries and senior military officials.

“The Bandhan ceremony also witnessed the forging of 266 partnerships including 201 MoUs, 53 major announcements, nine product launches and three Transfers of Technology (ToT), worth around Rs 80,000 crore,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

The Bharat Electronics Ltd and Aeronautical Development Agency also inked an MoU for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). The product launches at Aero India included the vertically launched short range surface-to-air missile (Bharat Dynamics Ltd).

It is a next-generation, ship-based, all-weather, air defence weapon which can be used by the Navy as a quick reaction defence against supersonic sea skimming targets such as aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The missile has a smokeless propulsion system with all-weather capability. It has a highly agile configuration with state-of-the-art electronic counter-measures features.

Another significant product launch was of the semi-active laser seeker based anti-tank guided missile developed by Bharat Dynamics Limited. The missile weighs 23 kgs with the launch tube, and can be used in different kinds of terrains to incapacitate moving and stationary targets such as tanks and infantry combat vehicles.

Another major landmark at the Aero India 2023 was the participation by Israel this year which marked 30 years of Indo-Israel defence collaboration. SIBAT, the International Defence Collaboration Directorate of the Israel Ministry of Defence, is in charge of fostering defence cooperation between Israel and India. The show saw the demonstration of some defence technologies developed by Israel including Air Defence Systems, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Aerial and Ground Precise Guided Munitions, Electronic Warfare (EW) Systems, Land and Naval Solutions, Avionic Systems, Air and Missile Defence Systems.

In a major boost to indigenous defence industry, the CMD of Munitions India Limited, Ravi Kant said that the company has got orders for more than 10 lakh multi-mode grenades for Indian armed forces and over Rs 3,000 crores of orders for exports.

The 14th edition of Aero India at the Yelahanka Air Force station complex on the outskirts of Bengaluru was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 13 february and it saw participation of over 700 defence firms and representatives of around 100 countries.

The defence minister said that Aero India showcased to the world the ‘New Defence Sector’ of ‘New India’, which has not only grown in the last few years, but is now fully ready to walk alongside the defence sectors of leading countries.

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These projects use technologies that are already available to DRDO or could be procured easily from commercial entities. This shortens the time frame of induction of the systems into the armed forces.

Time and Cost Overruns

The CAG report has pointed out various irregularities in timelines and cost overruns in the report, among other factors plaguing DRDO-run projects.

Of the 178 projects, 119 faced time overruns. The timelines of these projects were extended multiple times, delaying the development of critical equipment needed by the armed forces. Moreover, 49 of the projects took double the time to complete. Some projects saw a delay of 500 per cent, the report points out.

Between January 2010 and December 2019, the DRDO had closed 103 mission mode (MM) projects, undertaken on proven and readily accessible technologies, incurring an expenditure of ₹2,505.23 crore. More than that, 75 MM projects were continuing as of December 2019, and ₹2,997.57 crore of the sanctioned amount of ₹9,056.90 crore had already been spent on them.

Of the 86 projects labeled successful between January 2010 and December 2019, 20 projects were closed without meeting specific key parameters with an expenditure of ₹1074.67 crores, the CAG said in its damning report. 

Towed Sonar Project

One example cited by CAG to illustrate “irregular closure” of cases and declaring them successful despite not achieving key objectives after five years was the case of the development of Advanced Light Towed Array Sonar. DRDO’s Kochi-based Naval Physical Oceanographic Laboratory took up this project in April 2012. In December 2021, this project was declared successful despite various shortfalls in torpedo detection, layer performance and active and passive sonar function, the CAG report mentions.

No time extensions were sought by the DRDO for the projects that didn’t meet performance requirements.

Surprisingly, the auditors noted that the trial report of 2018 stated that key parameters such as active and passive sonar function, layer performance, torpedo detection, and streaming time were not achieved. Other than that, the user evaluation report revealed that the system had failed to meet these key parameters

In their reply to the CAG, the DRDO was silent on granting premature successful status to the project but stated that further trials would be held to prove 41 of the 138 parameters needed for the Navy to accept it.

Missile Approach Warning System

Another instance the audit flagged was the Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS), which the Indian Air Force wanted DRDO to develop for SU-30 Mk-1 fighter aircraft. The defence ministry sanctioned the project to DRDO’s Bengaluru-based lab, the Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), in 2008 at a cost of ₹273.80 crores. Strangely, though the Air HQ wanted DARE to carry out a feasibility study to determine whether they can be installed on SU-30 Mk-1, the lab developed the system in collaboration with a foreign firm at a cost of ₹213.03 crore and tested them on a transport aircraft. “In order to prove the developed DCMAWS on the Su-30 Mk-1, DARE proposed a separate user trial project at a cost of Rs 102.53 crore,” stated the CAG report.

Cartridge 0.5in Case

In July 2008, Air Headquarters had projected the requirement for development of Cartridge 0.5 inch (12 LL/195) to ARDE, as replacement for imported cartridges, with a delivery schedule of one year. However, the ARDE took five years in analysing the method of developing the indigenous cartridges and sanctioned the project in March 2014 at a cost of Rs 0.70 crore.

“The project was closed in July 2018 (expenditure: Rs 0.50 crore) and was termed successful. In the meantime, Air Headquarters imported 2,000 cartridges in July 2014,” the report noted.

Case of ‘secure mobile phones’

The CAG took note of instances where MM projects were taken up without the consent of the users. For instance, a project on ‘Development of Performance Assessment of Secure Mobile Phones’ was sanctioned by Director, CAIR (Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics — a laboratory of DRDO) in May 2012 at a cost of Rs 4.95 crore.

This project was taken up by the DRDO on the request of DG Signals (February 2012) even though no Preliminary Staff Qualitative Requirement/ General Staff Qualitative Requirement (PSQR/GSQR) was given to the DRDO, according to the report.

In the case of developing secure mobile phones, in December 2012, CAIR placed a supply order to BEL, Ghaziabad, for supply of 300 handsets of E6 Nokia smartphones. BEL procured 300 handsets at the cost of Rs 1.50 crore and supplied them to CAIR. The project was closed in March 2014 after incurring a cost of Rs 3.12 crore.

“CAIR closed the project terming it successful, without receipt of evaluation of the software and phones by users. The users returned all the 300 smartphones in April 2016,” the CAG report said. It noted that the software was developed for a specific series of E6 Nokia phones, the production of which was stopped by the phone manufacturer.

In March 2021, the Army intimated that the performance of the ‘secure mobile phones’ had not been found satisfactory in user trials and the project taken up by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) had not been successful.

Synergy Lacking With Armed Forces

The report also points out the “lack of synergy between the armed forces and DRDO”, “inefficiencies in the planning process”, and “inadequate monitoring of the project”, resulting in “variance in qualitative requirements”, delays and divergent views on outcomes of trials of various systems.

ToT Issues

“There were issues with ToT to production partners as well, which delayed production timelines leaving the forces with a gap in their combat capabilities,” the CAG report says.

“Out of 86 successfully closed projects, in 25 projects, the Transfer of Technology (ToT) has not been concluded or production has not started even after five to 12 years of successful closure of projects,” the report said.

Though the onus for non-conclusion of ToT and non-production of systems/items is not exclusively with DRDO, however, timely initiation and close interaction with user services could have resulted in more favourable outcomes, the CAG said.

Other Observations

The CAG audit also found that the DRDO had taken up new projects for developing certain products which were already under production by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), which comes under the defence ministry.

The CAG has recommended the DRDO should formulate its Annual Plan related to MM projects in consultation with the three services.

It has also suggested that the DRDO should ensure that delays in preparation of project proposals are avoided to mitigate the risk of technology becoming obsolete.

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The BSF has initiated steps such as establishing a special centre to train personnel in tackling the aerial threat, implementing operational protocols and upgrading technical capability. However, the high frequency of drone activity despite increased surveillance makes it obvious that the smugglers remain undeterred. The troops need cutting-edge technology to deal with the menace. Ahead of Independence Day this year, a counter-drone system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation had been installed near the Red Fort area. It can reportedly detect and deactivate drones within a radius of 4 km. Those involved in defence R&D must factor in the ever-improving capabilities of drones being used by anti-national elements. The easy access to these UAVs is another cause for concern.

The attack on the Jammu Air Force Station in June 2021, when low-flying drones had dropped improvised explosive devices, was a wakeup call for India’s security establishment. The possibility of drones being deployed on a major scale for cross-LoC terror strikes cannot be ruled out. The Russia-Ukraine war has seen the use of reconnaissance and strike drones. The latter include exploding drones and those that fly for 3-10 km and hit targets. In the worst-case scenario, the ISI and its terror assets can up the ante with these lethal UAVs. India’s armed forces need to be well equipped to deal with any such eventuality.

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Kamat, who was Director General, Naval Systems & Materials, at the DRDO succeeded Dr G Satheesh Reddy, who has been named as scientific adviser to the defence minister.

Kamat has been appointed to the post till he attains the age of 60 years or until further orders.

Dr. Kamat completed his B. Tech (Hons) in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1985 and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University, USA in 1988 and joined DRDO in 1989.

Dr. Kamat has provided leadership and direction to several critical materials programmes in DRDO such as development of high strength steels for naval ship hulls, development of high temperature titanium alloys and nickel base superalloy based components for aeroengines,development of tungsten heavy alloys for kinetic energy penetrators, development of fused silica radomes for missile seekers, development of armour solutions for personnel as well as combat vehicles and stealth materials for airborne and naval applications. These have found use in various systems being developed by DRDO laboratories.

In addition, he has spearheaded the development of naval systems such as advanced light weight torpedo, anti-torpedo decoy systems, autonomous underwater vehicles, advanced hull mounted and towed array sonars for ships and fuel cells based air independent propulsion systems for submarines.

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They have been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), with technology being shared with the industry. This is the first time that rockets produced by the private sector have been accepted for service, since defence manufacturing has been opened to non-governmental players. The army has a large requirement for rockets of this class, which is pegged at over 1,000 units annually.

“The project showcases that the private sector can deliver when it comes to the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision. This has been possible with the continuous guidance of DRDO and hand-holding by the Army,” Satyanarayan Nuwal, EEL Chairman told ET.

In the past, munitions of this class have either been imported or have been manufactured by the public sector, which could never completely meet annual requirements of the armed forces. As reported, the armed forces have been looking at creating alternate sources for munitions to reduce dependency on state owned units that have had a mixed track record. Industry estimates peg that privately manufactured munitions of different varieties be significantly cheaper than fixed pricing offered by state owned entities.

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The Astra Mk-2 and Mk-3 missiles are likely to be tested next year and in 2024 respectively, and are among the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) key ongoing programmes, said one of the officials cited above.

The current Astra Mk-1 variant has a range of around 100km.

The defence ministry on May 31 signed a ₹2,971-crore contract with Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) to equip the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy with Astra Mk-1 missiles and associated equipment, which was seen as a shot in the arm for “Atmanirbharta”, or self-reliance, in the defence manufacturing sector.

DRDO has transferred technology to BDL for the production of the Astra Mk-1 and associated systems.

“Future air combat will be about detecting and striking targets at the farthest possible range. It will be the outcome of increase in the detection ranges of radars and the advent of longer-range missiles. It is important for India to develop missiles like Astra Mk-2 and Mk-3 to meet IAF’s requirements,” said Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd), director general, Centre for Airpower Studies.

China has developed the PL-15 beyond visual range air-to-air missile that can hit targets at around 200km, while the Meteor with a range of around 160 km is considered the best in its class in the western world, and the new Astra variants will put India in the big league, he added.

The Astra Mk-1 missile has been fully integrated with the Sukhoi-30 fighters and will now add to the capabilities of other combat planes including the Tejas light combat aircraft, the officials said. Also, the navy’s MiG-29K fighters, which operate from India’s sole aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, will be equipped with the Astra Mk-1 missile.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis has exposed India’s overwhelming dependence on imported weaponry, especially from Russia, and underlined the urgent need for speeding up the indigenisation drive to become self-reliant.

Long-range missiles allow fighter jets to shoot down hostile aircraft from a significant standoff range, staying out of the adversary’s air defence envelope.

India has imposed a phased ban on the import of 310 different types of weapons and systems during the last two years to boost self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector.

These include lightweight tanks, naval utility helicopters, artillery guns, missiles, destroyers, ship-borne cruise missiles, light combat aircraft, light transport aircraft, long-range land-attack cruise missiles, basic trainer aircraft, multi-barrel rocket launchers, assault rifles, sniper rifles, specified types of helicopters, next-generation corvettes and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) systems.

The 310 weapons and systems that have to be developed in the country were notified in three separate positive indigenisation lists published by the defence ministry in August 2020, May 2021 and April 2020.

Since the notification of the first and second lists, contracts for 31 projects worth ₹53,839 crore have been signed by the defence services as of April 2022, according to defence ministry data.

Also, acceptance of necessity (AoN) for 83 projects worth ₹1,77,258 crore was accorded by April 2022, and cases worth ₹2,93,741 crore will be taken up in the next five to seven years.

The domestic industry is likely to receive orders worth ₹2,10,000 crore in the next five years as a result of the third list, according to the defence ministry’s projections.

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