DRDO going for indigenous production of PINAKA Mk-II rocket, ammunition for Arjun tank

As Indian armed forces look for state-of-art arsenal to keep up with the rapid developments in defence technology, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is also moving ahead with indigenisation of several weapon platforms. In the last three years, the DRDO has gone for indigenous production of various arms and ammunition.

These include 46m Inflatable Radome (weatherproof radar dome to protect the antenna), medium size integrated aerostat surveillance system (NAKSHATRA), heavy drop system – 16T (aerial delivery system to para drop heavy combat payloads including small vehicles and ammunition), enhanced range (20-80 kilometres) rocket (PINAKA Mk-II) with a guidance module, sub- munition warheads for PINAKA, 250 kg pre-fragmented bomb, air bursting grenades for individual weapons, penetration-cum-blast (PCB) and thermo-baric (TB) ammunition for 120 mm Arjun tank, multi calibre individual weapon system (MCIWS), minefieldmarking equipment Mk-II, CBRNe remotely operated platforms (CBRNeP), bar mine layer, mountain footbridge, water mist system validation for fire protection in naval ships, electro-optical fire control system for naval ships, commander’s non-panoramic TI sight for AFVs (T-90, T-72 & BMP-II), medium power radar (MPR) for IAF, anti-torpedo decoy system (MAAREECH), high speed heavy weight ship launched torpedo (VARUNASTRA), multi-influence ground mine (MIGM) etc, according to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to Dr. Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

She informed the House that the total Budget of Department of Defence Research & Development (R&D) for the Financial Year 2018-19 is Rs 17861.19 crore with a manpower of approximately 24224 (including 7354 scientists).

A total of 13 research projects in Technology Development (TD) and Science & Technology (S&T) category have been taken up in the year 2018-19 in the broad areas of hybrid power system, advanced materials, CBW Defence technologies, laser diode technology, technologies for insensitive munition etc. and since these are in design phase, outcome of research projects will be seen in the subsequent years.

To streamline working of DRDO to expedite various projects, the organisation has been reviewed/audited by a number of independent committees in recent past (since 2007). The review and audit have been carried out by Rama Rao Committee (RRC) and most of the suggestions have been implemented.

In addition, Ministry of Defence (MoD) has set up various committees including the Ravindra Gupta Task Force (RGTF) and Naresh Chandra Task Force (NCTF) on National Security. The minister informed that action has been taken accordingly while performance audit of DRDO labs is done on a case-to-case basis by audit authorities.