Top 10 Weapon Systems Developed by DRDO

The Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is responsible for the development of technology for use by the Indian armed forces. In recent years it has been criticized for the delayed projects and cost over runs. Because of DRDO’s poor performance in successfully delivering weapon systems and meeting timelines country fulfill its 70% of defense needs by imports from various countries.

Apart from these criticism most of which are irrational and unfair to the part of DRDO, there are many weapon systems which were largely managed by DRDO have seen considerable success with many of the systems seeing rapid deployment as well as yielding significant technological benefits. DRDO has achieved many successes since its establishment in developing other major systems and critical technologies such as aircraft avionics, UAVs, small arms, artillery systems, EW Systems, tanks and armored vehicles, sonar systems, command and control systems and missile systems.

It is very difficult to short down top 10 weapon system developed by DRDO as it has developed so many weapon systems. Based on the technological challenges, strategic importance, defense needs and level of completion of the systems these are top 10 weapon systems developed by DRDO.

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Top 10 Weapon Systems Developed by DRDO

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1. AGNI-V - Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)

Agni-V is a inter-continental Ballistic Missile with a range more than 5000 km. Agni-V is part of the Agni series of missiles. It is a solid fuelled and can be launched from a canister Tatra Truck. So It can be launched within five minutes of threat received. It can carry a nuclear war head of 1.5 tons.

This missile is the biggest achievement of DRDO and it is very important for the nuclear deterrent and strategic posturing. Agni-V would also carry MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) payloads being concurrently developed.

With this missile in armory India can Strike any part of China and Pakistan from its territory. This missile was a result of more than 30 years research in missile technology. This missile has put India in the elite club of nations who possess Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles. This missile can be used for India’s ballistic missile defense shield.

Project Status: Under Trials

2. Light Combat Aircraft - TEJAS

This is the costliest and longest going programme of DRDO. It is a 4+ generation fighter plane developed by Aeronautical Development Agency. Tejas is a lightweight multi-role jet fighter. It is a tailless, compound delta wing design powered by a single engine. It came from the LCA programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India’s aging MiG-21 fighters.

It integrates technologies such as relaxed static stability, fly-by-wire flight control system, multi-mode radar, integrated digital avionics system, composite material structures, and a flat rated engine. It is supersonic and highly maneuverable, and is the smallest and lightest in its class of contemporary combat aircraft. Navy and trainer variant of the plane has also been developed and they have received initial operational clearance.

To keep is mind the future requirements of the country, ADA is currently working on Mark-II and Mark-III of Tejas aircraft. These versions will have 5th generation features such as stealth, upgraded avionics, modified aerodynamic designs and AESA radar.

Project Status: Initial Operational Clearance is given (IOC) for production

3. INS ARIHANT - Nuclear Powered Ballistic Missile Submarine

The Arihant class is a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines being built for the Indian Navy. The lead vessel of the class, INS Arihant, was first launched in 2009 and began sea trials in December 2014. Four vessels are planned and are expected to be in commission by 2023.

The Arihant-class vessels are India’s first indigenously designed and built nuclear submarine. There are only 4-5 countries have technical capabilities to developing a nuclear powered submarines. So it’s a big technical breakthrough for the development of larger submarines in the future.

Arihant has four vertical launch tubes, which can carry twelve (three per launch tube) smaller K-15 missiles or four larger K-4 missiles. The K-4 is a longer range missile (3,500 km) and it is undergoing trials. Submarine will be fitted with USHUS sonar, developed by DRDO lab, for detecting and tracking enemy submarines, surface vessels, and torpedoes and can be used for underwater communication and avoiding obstacles.

Project Status: Under See Trials

4. RUSTOM - II - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Rustom is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) being developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment in Bangalore for the three services of the Indian Armed Forces. Rustom-II is developed by India on the lines of the American Predator drones.

I will be equipped with air to surface medium range missiles to destroy enemy targets. For target acquisition and ranging it has sophisticated Medium & Long Range Electro-Optical Payloads, Laser Ranger Finders with high resolution and precision stabilized platforms.

Rustom-II is equipped with various advanced technologies and systems which includes Digital Flight Control and Navigation System, Automatic Take off and Landing, Digital communication technologies for revealing data links to control and operate the mission and relay UAVs.

Project Status: Under Trials

5. ARJUN - Main Battle Tank

The MBT Arjun is a third generation main battle tank developed by Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), a DRDO lab in Chennai, for the Indian Army.

The Arjun features a 120 mm main rifled gun with indigenously developed Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot ammunition, one 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, and a 12.7 mm machine gun. It has a four-man crew. Automatic fire detection and suppression and NBC protection systems are included. Arjun Tank is equipped with high resolution day and night vision devices which is supported by laser range finder.

The Mark-2 of Arjun has been developed which is an advanced third generation main battle tank and an upgraded version of the Arjun main battle tank with several improvements. Its development was completed in 2 years owing to experience gained from developing the first version. The top speed of the tank would be at 60 km/hr compared to 40 km/hr in Arjun mark 1. It had outclassed the T-90 during the trials. The new variant possesses superior missile firing capabilities and can fire missiles accurately up to a range of 2 km.

Project Status: Under Production

6. BRAHMOS -  Super Sonic Cruise Missile

The BrahMos has been developed as a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organization of India and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise of Russia under BrahMos Aerospace. The missile is named after two rivers, the Brahmaputra and the Moskva.

It is the world’s fastest cruise missile in operation. The missile travels at speeds of Mach 2.8 to 3.0. The land-launched and ship-launched versions are already in service, with the air and submarine-launched versions currently in the testing phase. An air-launched variant of BrahMos( Fitted with Su-30 MKI) is planned which is expected to come out in 2016 and will make India the only country with supersonic cruise missiles in their army, navy, and air force.

A hypersonic version of the missile namely BrahMos-II is also presently under development with speed of Mach 7 to boost aerial fast strike capability. It is expected to be ready for testing by 2017.

Like the BrahMos, the range of BrahMos II has also been limited to 290 km to comply with the MTCR. With a speed of Mach 7, it will have double the speed of the current BrahMos missile, and it will be the fastest hypersonic missile in the world.

Project Status: Under Production for all the three services

7. NIRBHAY - Medium Range Subsonic Cruise Missile

Nirbhay is a long range, subsonic cruise missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s premier laboratory Aeronautical Development Establishment in Bangalore. Nirbhay is an all-weather low-cost long-range cruise missile with stealth and high accuracy. The missile has a range of more than 1000 km and It can be launched from a mobile launcher. It starts flying off as a rocket and then turns into an aircraft. For that it has foldable wings.

It is capable of being launched from multiple platforms on land, sea and air and shall be inducted into Indian Navy, Army, and Air Force. In particular, Nirbhay is being adapted for the Su-30MKI. The missile is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The missile supplements Brahmos by delivering warheads farther than the 290 km range of Brahmos. This missile can fly at the height of a tree so its difficult to catch it by enemy radar.

The development of this missile is a breakthrugh for India as this missile is comparable to Pakistan’s Babur and USAs Tomhawk. It will be mounted on Su-30 MKI which will make the fighter planes more lethal.

Project Status: Under Trials

8. DHRUV - Advanced Light Helicopter

The Dhruv Helicopters have evolved from The Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) program for an indigenous 5-ton multirole helicopter was initiated in May 1979 by the Indian Air Force and Indian Naval Air Arm. HAL were given a contract by the Indian government in 1984 to develop the helicopter.

The Dhruv has become the first major Indian weapons system to have secured large foreign sales. In 2004 HAL stated that it hoped to sell 120 Dhruvs over the next eight years, and has been displaying the Dhruv at airshows.

With a unit price at least 15 percent less than its rivals, the Dhruv has elicited interest in many countries, mostly from Latin America, Africa, West Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific Rim nations. Air forces from around 35 countries have made inquiries, along with requests for demonstrations. Flight certification for Europe and North America is also been planned in order to tap the large civilian market there.

Project Status: Under Trials

9. Ballistic Missile Defence System

Prithvi Advanced Air Defence System is for engaging the targets in the exo-atmosphere region

The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect from ballistic missile attacks. It is a very ambitious and technology intensive project as this kind of capabilities are with only 2-3 countries in the world.

Introduced in light of the ballistic missile threat from Pakistan and China, it is a double-tiered system consisting of two interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile for lower altitude interception. The two-tiered shield should be able to intercept any incoming missile launched 5,000 kilometres away.

Advanced Air Defence System is for engaging the targets in the endo-atmosphere region

The two-tiered BMD System consists of the PAD, which will intercept missiles at exo-atmospheric altitudes of 50–80 km and the AAD missile for interception at endo-atmospheric altitudes of up to 30 km. The deployed system would consist of many launch vehicles, radars, Launch Control Centres and the Mission Control Centre. All these are geographically distributed and connected by a secure communication network.

Project Status: Under Trials

10. INSAS - Indian Small Arms System

INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) is a family of infantry arms consisting of an assault rifle and a light machine gun. It is designed by Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune. It is manufactured by the Ordnance Factories Board at Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli, Small Arms Factory Kanpur and Ichapore Arsenal.

Development of this rifle was a big achievement for the country as it replaced all the outdated rifles and their export was also stopped. INSAS has been included in the top 10 weapon systems developed by DRDO because of its mass induction in the services and export to various countries.

The assault rifle and LMG variants have been adopted by the Indian Armed Forces, Central Armed Police Forces, Indian Paramilitary Forces and police forces. On the international level India has exported a certain number of these rifles to Nepal, Bhutan and Oman. About, 300,000 units are in currently use by the Indian armed forces.

Project Status: Services are Using the rifle

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Selecting the Right Mix of Combat Aircraft

We have been hearing for a long time about various different combat aircrafts and also more recently about the LCA Tejas since its second initial operational clearance. Considering the wealth of information available on all of these combat aircrafts, it is but natural to make a comparison of all of these combat aircrafts.

The combat aircrafts that are being considered for this comparison are JAS 39 Gripen, F-15 Eagle, F-16, F/A-18E Super Hornet, F-35 Stealth, Euro Fighter, Dassault Rafale, Mig-29, Su-30, Su-35, T-50 FGFA, J-10 and the LCA.

The aircrafts are categorized based on their maximum take-off weight as Light-Combat, Top Line Combat, or Medium Role Combat.

The pricing and configuration is taken at the maximum potential of these aircraft

Let us first look at the Light Combat variants. The first ranking goes to the JAS39 Gripen aircraft from Sweden as it has the same or less maximum take-off weight as the other two contenders, the LCA and the Chinese J10. But it has a better range of operations and combat radius and offers a more potent configuration of weapon systems. 

For example the Gripen can easily shoot down the LCA and the J10 from 180 miles and deliver a load of missiles more than 500 miles away. Considering it has a combat radius of 432 miles, it can easily do its job and get away. Though the price of the Gripen is twice that of the LCA or the J10, a small squadron of these high tech aircraft with less number of pilots can take care twice or thrice the number of LCA / J-10 squadrons.

The Indian Air Force is right in demanding a more potent LCA than its present form to take on the Light Combat role. If the LCA MKII or MKIII can have a more powerful and fuel efficient engine, it can have a better range and carry more long range weapons like the Brahmos ASM and longer range AAMs at a reasonable price.

Let us now consider the Top Line combat aircrafts that also includes the still under development stealth aircraft by Russia and India as also the F-35 Stealth Fighter that the US and its allies are equipping themselves with.

The F-35 is clearly the winner here primarily because of its advanced stealth capabilities and design as also it offers the maximum weapon load of 8100 KGS giving it the flexibility of equipping itself with a range of long range AAMs and ASMs and delivering it with a sufficiently comfortable combat range thus ensuring survivability. This combat aircraft can only be challenged by the joint Russian/Indian T-50 equipped with longer range missiles and a longer combat radius. Which means the T-50 may well be able to detect the F-35 at closer range and engage it and then be able to fire missiles from a longer distance and turn around and get away. The F-35 on the other hand with its more stealthy features may get behind the T-50 and fire the first shot.

The second rung of Top Line combat aircraft constitutes the Su-30MKI, Su-35 and the F15 Eagle.

The Su-30MKI is far superior to the Su-35 in weapon and range capabilities and hence can defeat the Su-35 that the Chinese have purchased from the Russians on this count. The Su-30MKI has better long range weapons and once equipped with the supersonic Brahmos will make it a fearful weapon platform. The Su-35 on the other hand is faster than the Su-30 and hence could take down the Su-30 in close combat. The Russian Su-35 has stealth coatings that also make it difficult to be detected by radars. 

The F-15 Eagle is still the King of the skies and is faster than the Su-30MKI or the Su-35 as well has a higher operating ceiling which means it can go higher than both combat aircraft and shoot them down using its look down radar and long range missiles. However, the Su-30MKI may be able to detect the F-15 at longer ranges and fire the first shot at it. When it comes to close range combat, both aircrafts are equally matched though the Su-30MKI has an edge though everything depends on the pilots. The F-15 has more rounds of ammunition than the Su-30MKI or the Su-35.

The F/A-18 Super Hornet is the odd man out here. With a shorter combat radius and slower speeds, this combat aircraft will need to go with a fully loaded weapons suite to neutralize the Su-30MKI or the Su-35. Both the adversaries can shoot down the F/A-18 using the look down mode as they have a higher operating ceiling and the Su-30MKI may carry longer range missiles though US combat aircrafts are known to have a higher kill ratio versus Russian fighters.

The last category of combat aircraft here is the Medium Role Combat aircraft that the Indian Air force recently went for in selecting the French made Rafale combat aircraft. 

From the above table it is quite clear that this decision was a wise decision as the Rafale has the best combat range and weapon configuration. However, it remains to be seen what the IAF versions of Rafale are equipped with. Certainly they will be French AAM or American AAM missies and not longer range Russian or Indian missiles.

It is also doubt if the Rafale will be able to integrate the supersonic Brahmos cruise missile. So though selecting the Rafale is a wise decision in terms of quality it may be the most expensive choice here. The Rafale has more weapon payload capacity than even the Top-Line combat aircrafts and hence can carry more bombs and missiles than the Su-30MKI theoretically.

However, it is slower than then all the other aircrafts in this category, namely the F-16, EuroFighter and the Mig-29. The F-16 though offers a good match to the Rafale in terms of missiles and bombs it can carry; it may be shot down by the Rafale using its long combat radius and if equipped with long range AAMs. The EuroFighter on the other hand has the highest service ceiling as it can hover at 70,000 feet and use its look down radar to shoot down the other contenders which can reach not more than 60,000 feet. The EuroFighter comes with the same potent long range American missiles as the F-16 and therefore is a better challenger to the American fighter than the Rafale.

The Rafale on the other hand can deliver the maximum punch in the ground attack role and may need the support of Su-30MKI to counter the F-16s or the EuroFighters.

The Mig-29 is in the lower rung of this combat category mainly due to the lower configuration of its weapon loads. In close combat, it can still out maneuver the F-16 or even the Rafale so long as it is not shot down from longer ranges. Here also, the F-16 has more ammo than all the other competitors and close combat could be really close and depend greatly on the caliber of the pilots.

The final analysis is that for any Air Force when taking a decision on selecting the right combat aircraft is certainly as challenging as using them in real combat. The ideal combination would be as follows:

Two to Four Squadrons of F-35 or T-50 FGFA each with 20 combat aircrafts and 5 Training aircrafts. That is a total of 45 F-35 or 90 T-50 FGFA Stealth aircrafts to make the first strike and take out the enemy’s air defenses will cost $7Billion(F-35).

This will be followed by 5 squadrons of Rafale each equipped with 20 combat aircrafts and 10 additional Training versions totaling 110 Rafale combat aircrafts to vanquish the enemy by destroying airfields and defense infrastructure by delivering 10 tons of destruction by each aircraft costing $14 billion.

The Rafale will be supported by 10 squadrons of Su-30MKIs with a total of 250 combat aircrafts costing another $14 billion.

Finally once the Air Force has achieved air superiority, it can deploy 10 squadrons of LCA-Tejas MKII or MKIII totaling 250 Tejas of different versions costing in total $8 billion.

As the Indian Air force has already purchased the Su-30MKI combat aircrafts, it needs to for 2-4 squadrons (F-35/T-50) of stealth fighters, 5 squadrons of Rafale and 10 squadrons of LCA-Tejas costing not more than $30 billion over a 10-15 year period.

On the other hand, we are going ahead inking a deal for $20 billion or even more as also $25 billion T-50 deal and add to the cost of acquiring LCA-Tejas fighters taking the total spend to over $50 billion. That is an additional $20 billion over the actual requirement as shown earlier.

Instead of going for the $25 billion T-50 Russian project that may never satisfy our needs, it would be prudent to talk to the Americans and get 2 squadrons of the far more advanced F-35 which are available for purchase. Using these advanced aircrafts can help us develop a stealthy model of the LCA which anyways has American Engines and technology. This will cost less than the ever delayed T-50 project over the long term.

Once the stealthy version of the LCA is developed, we may be able to advance considerably as in the case of the missiles and space launch vehicles in developer even top line combat aircrafts in the future. Especially considering we are allowing 49% of FDI in defense and running the Make in India campaign so effectively. 

This will ensure we are not at the whims and fancies of external suppliers such as the US, France and Russia for our defense.

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Iron Birds of the INDIAN AIR FORCE

FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

HAL - TEJAS

Images: DRDO / HAL

INTRODUCTION

The history of military aviation indicates that light fighters have always been one of the most popular classes of aircraft. Generally lightweight fighters are significantly cheaper and less complex to build than their heavier counterparts. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Tejas "Radiance" is a 4+ generation, multirole light fighter developed by India for both defensive and offensive purposes. India with its expanding economy and its growth in aerospace and other important military technological areas has become a very important and robust criterion to enable the country’s growth in the development of indigenous defense related products. With ample government support, this industry can grow both commercially and in the technology spectrum. The present NDA government seems determined to cut the policy paralysis, which was the hallmark of the previous UPA government lead by Prime Minister Dr. Singh & Defense Minister A K Antony. Another invigorating factor is that the Shri. Narendra Modi's Government supports 100% Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the defense industry. This will augur well to augment the current state of affairs in this sector. Light Combat Aircraft-Tejas was envisaged to boost the indigenous aerospace capabilities. It has emerged as a sophisticated and significant piece of complex technological system that the country can be proud of. The main intention was to not only provide a launch base for aircraft production but also build upon local industry infrastructure capable of creating state-of-the-art products and services. 

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