Indigenous "Kaveri" Project shelved by DRODO?

[Joe Shearer]

@Joe Shearer
Yes LRDE is one of those labs in bangalore that are doing well. In fact the only two clusters that are doing good work are those in Hyd and Bangalore. As for LRDE, they have recently given the ToT of their MPR to BEL for manufacturing. This piece of information came in DRDO's newletter for the month of March. What this means is that LRDE's indigenous MPR variant has passed all user hurdles and is being mass produced. It is now time to graduate to HPR (High power radar) level of radars with ranges of >800km. What a lot of Pakistanis and some Indians dont realize is that Indian designed radars have replaced various foreign radars that used to be in service of armed forces. Now today, In fact all of ground based radars are of Indian origin with the exception of Israeli MPR(I am not counting the swordfish/green pine, as it is for strategic purposes!). But with LRDE's MPR now getting to mass production stage, it means this particular radar can be put to use in areas as diverse as rajasthan, kargil to NE. Also fighter borne AESA radars is one arena where LRDE needs to put in more effort. Because one who holds the source codes of radar, also generally holds the interceptors. RF seeker for BVRs have already been done by consortium of DRDO/pvt sector, what remains is the AESA radar. Hopefully they are able to finish the trials of the uttam in next 2years.

You very clearly know your way around DRDO. The most frustrating thing with LRDE is the huge amount of time they have taken - sheer laziness and lack of drive and energy; when the main problem is solved, who's bothered with this side issue? kind of attitude - towards miniaturising their ground radars. Imagine the wealth of options we might have had available today, both to install and to re-sell.

Thanks for confirming my general impressions.

You will probably agree if I say that BEL was streets ahead of the other two Department of Defence Production units, HAL and (shudder!) BEML. A real crackerjack of a place, by public sector standards.

 

[amardeep mishra]

You very clearly know your way around DRDO. The most frustrating thing with LRDE is the huge amount of time they have taken - sheer laziness and lack of drive and energy; when the main problem is solved, who's bothered with this side issue? kind of attitude - towards miniaturising their ground radars. Imagine the wealth of options we might have had available today, both to install and to re-sell.

Thanks for confirming my general impressions.

You will probably agree if I say that BEL was streets ahead of the other two Department of Defence Production units, HAL and (shudder!) BEML. A real crackerjack of a place, by public sector standards.

Yep you're right, I've been to BEL in fact did my summer interns there back in 2012. They're much better than their sister PSUs. It is great to see that BEL has come a long way in manufacturing of radars from, simple INDRA in 80s to AESA radars in post 2010 years.