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New Delhi: Against the backdrop of increasing terror threats and insurgency, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), on Saturday said it has ventured into technologies to support security forces in operations, including against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) attacks.
The DRDO chief, Mr V.K. Saraswat, said his organisation has opened a Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) Division that would cater to weapons, equipment and life support systems for the paramilitary and police forces.
"Most of the wars in the 20th century are low-intensity conflicts, sub-conventional war, asymmetric warfare, counter-insurgency, and terrorism. These are going to be the emerging battle scenarios. It is going to be the order of the day for the next 100 years.
"The DRDO now has very focused programmes on technologies for low-intensity conflicts, which includes NBC weapons," Mr Saraswat said at a media interaction on the eve of a three-day DRDO directors' conference here.
He said the DRDO also launched another LIC-related programme with soldier-centric technologies with his
"survivability, sustainability, efficiency and lethality" as the focus areas.
"For Futuristic Indian Soldier as a System (F-INSAS), we need technology for his armour, communication, psychological profile, life support, battle scenario devices, scanning devices and grenades. It will be a concerted programme," the DRDO chief controller, Dr W Selvamurthy, said.
"Most of these technologies are spin-offs. We already have technologies from our strategic weapons programme, which can be customised for LIC needs," Mr Saraswat added.
Asked if the shift in focus would impact the DRDO's strategic weapons programme, he said it would not be so. This would be an incremental work to help the nation to achieve self-reliance in this niche area too, he added.
"Both (strategic and LIC programmes) are important. Strategic weapons, you cannot get from anywhere else. Nobody will give you the technology. It has to be developed internally. Most of the LIC technologies are also important," Mr Saraswat stated.
The DRDO chief said his organisation was a technology provider. "We (the DRDO) identify in consultation with the Home ministry as well as others, if there are gaps in certain areas such as foliage penetration or ground penetration, communication, jamming and communication interception systems, we would work on them and provide solutions," he added.
Asked if there were plans to dump the indigenous INSAS 5.56 mm rifle, the DRDO chief said there were no problems and the feedback received from troops suggested that the weapons were performing satisfactorily. "The problems faced by troops must be a local perception nature, by some individual. But it is not a general perception," he said.
On pitting indigenous Arjun tanks against Russian T-90s, Mr Saraswat said trials would take place soon which will not compare the tanks' capabilities but test operational advantages in different terrains and weather conditions to decide on their deployment patterns.
To a query on night blindness of Army's tanks, he said the DRDO possessed third generation technology for night vision devices and it "needs to catch up" with the latest technologies.
About unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programmes, the DRDO chief said Nishant and Lakshya were in progress, apart from a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV Rustom, a prototype of which was flown for the first time a couple of months ago. "We are also working on a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) system. These UAVs would be out mainstay programmes."
The DRDO was also working on a micro UAV for use by troops in LIC by providing it a payload for surveillance. However, Mr Saraswat said the DRDO had no unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) programme, though it possessed necessary technology to build one.
The DRDO, he pointed out, had developed unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), which played roles such as surveillance, bomb disposal, mine laying and demining operations. "We want to give UGVs a bigger role than it is performing now. But it cannot become replacements for human beings," he added.
On a new engine for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Mk2), he said an indigenous project called Kaveri, in association with French company Snecma, was in progress, apart from looking at engines from Eurojet and General Electric.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/gadgetology/drdo-develop-technologies-fight-terrorists-insurgents-959
The DRDO chief, Mr V.K. Saraswat, said his organisation has opened a Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) Division that would cater to weapons, equipment and life support systems for the paramilitary and police forces.
"Most of the wars in the 20th century are low-intensity conflicts, sub-conventional war, asymmetric warfare, counter-insurgency, and terrorism. These are going to be the emerging battle scenarios. It is going to be the order of the day for the next 100 years.
"The DRDO now has very focused programmes on technologies for low-intensity conflicts, which includes NBC weapons," Mr Saraswat said at a media interaction on the eve of a three-day DRDO directors' conference here.
He said the DRDO also launched another LIC-related programme with soldier-centric technologies with his
"survivability, sustainability, efficiency and lethality" as the focus areas.
"For Futuristic Indian Soldier as a System (F-INSAS), we need technology for his armour, communication, psychological profile, life support, battle scenario devices, scanning devices and grenades. It will be a concerted programme," the DRDO chief controller, Dr W Selvamurthy, said.
"Most of these technologies are spin-offs. We already have technologies from our strategic weapons programme, which can be customised for LIC needs," Mr Saraswat added.
Asked if the shift in focus would impact the DRDO's strategic weapons programme, he said it would not be so. This would be an incremental work to help the nation to achieve self-reliance in this niche area too, he added.
"Both (strategic and LIC programmes) are important. Strategic weapons, you cannot get from anywhere else. Nobody will give you the technology. It has to be developed internally. Most of the LIC technologies are also important," Mr Saraswat stated.
The DRDO chief said his organisation was a technology provider. "We (the DRDO) identify in consultation with the Home ministry as well as others, if there are gaps in certain areas such as foliage penetration or ground penetration, communication, jamming and communication interception systems, we would work on them and provide solutions," he added.
Asked if there were plans to dump the indigenous INSAS 5.56 mm rifle, the DRDO chief said there were no problems and the feedback received from troops suggested that the weapons were performing satisfactorily. "The problems faced by troops must be a local perception nature, by some individual. But it is not a general perception," he said.
On pitting indigenous Arjun tanks against Russian T-90s, Mr Saraswat said trials would take place soon which will not compare the tanks' capabilities but test operational advantages in different terrains and weather conditions to decide on their deployment patterns.
To a query on night blindness of Army's tanks, he said the DRDO possessed third generation technology for night vision devices and it "needs to catch up" with the latest technologies.
About unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programmes, the DRDO chief said Nishant and Lakshya were in progress, apart from a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV Rustom, a prototype of which was flown for the first time a couple of months ago. "We are also working on a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) system. These UAVs would be out mainstay programmes."
The DRDO was also working on a micro UAV for use by troops in LIC by providing it a payload for surveillance. However, Mr Saraswat said the DRDO had no unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) programme, though it possessed necessary technology to build one.
The DRDO, he pointed out, had developed unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), which played roles such as surveillance, bomb disposal, mine laying and demining operations. "We want to give UGVs a bigger role than it is performing now. But it cannot become replacements for human beings," he added.
On a new engine for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Mk2), he said an indigenous project called Kaveri, in association with French company Snecma, was in progress, apart from looking at engines from Eurojet and General Electric.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/gadgetology/drdo-develop-technologies-fight-terrorists-insurgents-959
