{"id":93000,"date":"2019-12-05T20:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T14:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/?p=93000"},"modified":"2019-12-05T19:14:54","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T13:44:54","slug":"top-10-achievements-of-indian-defence-research-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/technology\/top-10-achievements-of-indian-defence-research-in-2019","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Achievements of Indian Defence Research in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Top<\/a>
Achievements of Indian Defence Research in 2019<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

India is an emerging power – economically, diplomatically, and militarily. As India increases its space and voice in the international comity of nations, its military strength will ensure it finds ear and respect.<\/p>\n

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is India\u2019s apex body coordinating research and manufacturing activity with all associated public and private sector firms in India.<\/p>\n

Its mandate is simple. Ensure India continues on its path of self-reliance in defence production, and its forces continue receiving state-of-the-art technology to give them the edge at the time they need to use them.<\/p>\n

Defence research and development is a long gestation activity and a continuous process of improvement over existing technologies.<\/p>\n

In 2019, DRDO, along with all associated organisations broke new ground in several technologies. Here are some of the leading ones:<\/h2>\n

(please click Next > to know the names)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Tejas LCA<\/h2>\n
\"Tejas<\/a>
Tejas LCA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) – an autonomous body under DRDO, took its first test flight in 2001. The single-engine, single-seater, delta wing multirole fighter was originally designed to replace the ageing fleet of the Russian-designed Mig-21 fighters of the Indian Air Force.<\/p>\n

On 20 February 2019, Tejas Mark 1 was granted Final Operational Clearance (FOC), which includes Beyond Visual Range Missile (air-to-air), Air-to-Ground weapons, and Air-to-Air Refueling capability, among other combat features.<\/p>\n

The IAF has ordered 40 Tejas Mark 1 fighters, of which, 16 Tejas fighters with Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) have been delivered. Another batch of 16 Tejas Mark 1 fighters with FOC clearance will be delivered to the IAF, followed by 8 more fighters in training configuration. The Naval version of the Tejas is currently under test and development.<\/p>\n

The IAF has ordered 83 fighters of the Tejas Mark IA version. The IAF plans to operate 123 of the Mark 1 category fighters and will induct Mark 2 fighters as they are developed and approved starting 2025-26.<\/p>\n

The Tejas Mark 2 will be a twin-engine, medium-weight fighter and will come in two versions \u2013 for IAF and the Indian Navy, respectively.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2. BrahMos II<\/h2>\n
\"BrahMos<\/a>
BrahMos II<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The BrahMos is the world\u2019s fastest supersonic medium-range cruise missile. Developed jointly by India and Russia, the BrahMos missile is a 290 km ramjet supersonic missile capable of surface-to-surface attack, air-to-surface attack, anti-ship attack, and land-attack functions. The BrahMos missile is operational with the defence forces.<\/p>\n

The BrahMos II is under development and comes with a hypersonic scramjet technology. It will have an extended range up to 450 km and speed reaching Mach 7 (seven times the speed of sound). The first test flight is expected in 2020.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3. Netra AEW&C<\/h2>\n
\"Netra<\/a>
Netra AEW&C<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The DRDO began working on developing an indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system in 2003 and chose the Brazilian-made Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft as a suitable platform. Three aircraft were procured, of which two have been delivered to the IAF (the second on 11 September 2019). The third planned aircraft is planned to be given to a friendly country.<\/p>\n

The DRDO is now planning the NETRA AEW&C on a C-295 Airbus platform with 360-degree scan capability, and the IAF is keen to procure five additional aircraft on this platform. The process of acquiring the C-295 is under process.<\/p>\n

The Netra offers 240-degree coverage while the AWACS being developed by the DRDO on the Airbus 330 platform will offer 360-degree coverage.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

4. ATAGS 155 mm Artillery Gun<\/h2>\n
\"ATAGS<\/a>
ATAGS 155 mm Artillery Gun<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After an extended period without a 155 mm Artillery gun, the Indian Army is ready to induct the indigenously developed Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS).<\/p>\n

It is a 155 mm, 52 Calibre howitzer gun, which comes with a six-round automated magazine, ready to deploy in under three minutes and capable of firing in just 30 seconds.<\/p>\n

The 18-tonne gun is a major improvement over the existing three-round system with a range of 48 km, making it the longest range gun in its class in the world. The gun has been developed in consortium mode with Tata Power SED, Bharat Forge, and Kalyani Strategic Systems.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

5. MPATGM<\/h2>\n
\"MPATGM\"<\/a>
MPATGM<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The indigenously built Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile is a 3rd generation fire-and-forget missile system. It has a diameter of 120 mm, weighs 14.5 kg with an operational range of 2.5 km. The system comes with an Imaging Infrared Seeker (IIR) and is capable of firing High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead.<\/p>\n

The MPATGM is a derivative of the Nag anti-tank missile program. The system compares with the American FGM-148 Javelin and is superior to the recently acquired Israeli Spike Anti-tank systems.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

6. HeliNa<\/h2>\n
\"HeliNa\"<\/a>
HeliNa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The HeliNa is a Stand-off Anti-Tank system with a 20 km extended range in air-to-ground mission mode. For surface warfare, there is a ground-vehicle mounted option available. The guided-missile HeliNa is expected to be mass-produced starting 2020. The weapon is a derivative of the earlier Nag Anti-tank missile program.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

7. Astra Missile<\/h2>\n
\"Astra<\/a>
Astra Missile<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Astra is a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile system. It weighs 15 kg and flies at Mach 4.5+ speed (4.5 times the speed of sound). It has a kill range of 110 km in head-on chase mode and 20 km in tail-chase mode. The missile was recently test-fired from a Su-30MKI fighter. The manufacturer is Bharat Dynamics Limited.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

8. Pinaka MBRL<\/h2>\n
\"Pinaka<\/a>
Pinaka MBRL<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pinaka multi-barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) comes in two variants:<\/p>\n

Mark-I:<\/strong> Range 40 km<\/p>\n

Mark-II:<\/strong> Range 75 km<\/p>\n

The next variant under development is a 120 km range system. The Pinaka system comes with 12 barrels capable of firing 12 High Explosive (HE) 214 mm Calibre rockets in 44 seconds. Pinaka MBRL systems are being manufactured by Tata Power SED, L&T, and Ordnance Factory Board.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

9. WhAP<\/h2>\n
\"WhAP\"<\/a>
WhAP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Wheeled Armour Platform (WhAP) is an 8×8 wheel configuration vehicle with amphibious capability. It comes with a 600 HP engine with automatic transmission, capable of transporting 12 combat-ready soldiers. WhAP is armed with a 40 mm Cased Telescopic Armament System with a 4,000 m range. The WhAP is designed and manufactured by Tata Motors and has recently been cleared for export.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

10. Torpedo Systems \u2013 Varunastra<\/h2>\n
\"Torpedo<\/a>
Torpedo Systems – Varunastra<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Varunastra is an advanced heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo. The wire-guided, active-passive acoustic homing torpedo comes with a 250 kg warhead and has a range of 40 km. Designed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory, Varunastra is manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India is an emerging power – economically, diplomatically, and militarily. As India increases its space and voice in the international comity of nations, its military strength will ensure it finds ear and respect. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is India\u2019s apex body coordinating research and manufacturing activity with all associated public and private […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1316,"featured_media":93085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11315,6124],"tags":[5877,11563,11564,11051],"class_list":{"0":"post-93000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-india","8":"category-technology","9":"tag-defence","10":"tag-drdo","11":"tag-missiles","12":"tag-top-10"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93000"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93088,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93000\/revisions\/93088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}