Swadeshi pride vs s/w ? Army keeps DRDO on toes over UAV Nishant induction

[angeldemon_007]

Bangalore: The Indian Army is yet to induct the desi Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Nishant even after completing the confirmatory trials in Pokhran and Chandan ranges in February this year. Its makers in Bangalore – the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) – a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) installation, had then gone to the town trumpeting the UAV's success.

“The successful flight trials were conducted by the Army before taking delivery of a set of four Nishant together with ground support equipment (GSE). The performance of the pay load sensors in particular has been better than even the imported UAVs with the Army . It is expected that more of such equipment will soon be purchased (read as eight) by the users," the DRDO had said in an official release issued in February.

While the ADE top brass refused to any share information, sighting the sensitives involved at this stage, sources in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in New Delhi confirmed to The New Indian Express, that post-confirmatory trials, another last set of evaluation was also done by the Indian Army in September this year, at two DRDO labs. “As far as we know, the final tests were for electro-magnetic interference (EMI), electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC) and maintenance evaluation trials (MET),” MoD sources said.

The General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQR) for the Nishant project was given to the DRDO by the Indian Army in 1999, soon after the developmental trails were over. While, some quarters blame the Army for changing the GSQRs a number of times, the DRDO too was accused of taking too much time in executing the technology changes.

The four Nishants waiting to be inducted, at a cost of Rs 80 crore, have onboard a forward looking infra red (FLIR) camera which would aid night operations. The upgraded Nishant can spot a tank-size object at a slant range of six-seven km while flying at an altitude of of 1.5 km.

While the DRDO might be pondering over the induction procedures of Army, sources indicate that a decision would be officially announced within two months. The DRDO is pitching hard on Nishant's USPs, including low repair cost and quick software maintenance modes. On its part, the Indian Army is ensuring that they have a UAV loaded with their choice of features – and not one thrust upon them to satisfy the swadeshi pride, but operational efficiencies.

Army had issues with Nishant's video and tracking qualities, which the DRDO now says are all fixed.The Indian Army might place an order for eight more Nishants, including GSE, at a cost of Rs 160 crore, once the much-awaited induction of first four is over.

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: Swadeshi pride vs software stability? Army keeps DRDO on toes over UAV Nishant induction

 

[Tshering22]

Army's selection team needs to be fired out. ALL of them. These commission taking losers are risking the nation giving crappy excuses for local products that work well as well while buy all foreign trash for kickbacks.

 

[Trucker]

corruption n corruption

 

[agentperry]

80 crore rupees is nothing for Indian army. induct them and then bring the corresponding upgrades. this will boost the moral and confidence of drdo and army personnel too as they are now flying Indian stuff.
china induct weapon irrespective of its superiority or inferiority in relation with western counterparts( but i think they are quality conscious in this case). israel no doubt interfer to sell its uav. they are nice but Indian stuff should also be bought. dont use them on frontiers but they will be useful to track the movement along coastlines and bunkers/posts.

 

[vikrams]

Its lockeed vs boeing in US.
Its Chengdu vs shenyang in china.
Its Monopoly DRDO in India.
It will never work.

 

[Splurgenxs]

^^eh??..
u mean the nishant will never work cus drdo faces no competition?or r u saying they have become complacent?

Howd u come to that conclusion?

I personally think no one else will buy there stuff unless our own Defense Forces gives it a yes.
and out of emm all, Our Defense forces have been a very voiced critic of all drdo developments and don't give in easily...

Indian defense forces don't give a **** about indigenous...they opt for the best no matter where its from ...

the way i see it DRDO is competing against the world.

 

[pmukherjee]

I do not wish to involve in a acrimonious shooting match with my fellow country men, but certain comments made by people who are totally ignorant of the details and the processes involved are detrimental to national interest of India. If the Army is not accepting a certain piece of equipment, it implies that it is not satisfactory and unfit for deployment in its present state. Nothing more. It is the IA/IAF/IN which defend the country, not the hordes of pseudo nationalists and wannabe soldiers who crawl out of the wood work now and then to vilify the Army. The environment we live in makes it impossible for us to induct half baked products and wait for it to be gradually improved by trial and error. Our adversaries do not employ such methods. They buy advanced products which are tried and tested off the shelf or reverse engineer proven systems. It is the Army's money which has been allocated by the GOI, leave it to the Army to be the best judge of how this money is to be spent. I used to think that it is the powerful DRDO PR lobby which creates so much noise when certain products are not accepted by the Army so that the DRDO keeps receiving funding despite not really making progress in various areas. That may be partially true. The incitement on the media and the cyberspace is done by these vested interests, but then they are joined by ignorant ultra patriotic internet warriors. No one minds a serious debate on the shortcomings, pros and cons. But for that knowledge is needed. Without knowledge what we witness here is outright accusations.

As the saying goes, 'Do not teach your father how to fcuk'. For many on the net, patriotism may be a passion but for the Indian Defence Forces, it is a way of life, it is what they do, it is who they are. They never call themselves patriots, it is their job, their profession.

I will not discuss this any further. Regards.

 

[cyphercide]

^^^I do understand and respect your position but one often wishes that the defence services was more transparent with it's acquisitions given their affinity for throwing up inexplicable decisions.

Take the F-18 Superhornets for example;It came packed with stealth features and Raytheon AESA radars customized for especially for the IAF.The IAF didn't like it;I am alright with that as long as they point to the specific criteria that the rejection was based on.Even the IAF segment that brief the American contingent on why the bird was rejected spoke in broad generalities and offset technicalities(why should the IAF worry about offsets?let the two governments hash it out).Hope you understand the predicament for common folks.

 

[bubble123]

Is India getting a UCAV ?

 

[pmukherjee]

^^^I do understand and respect your position but one often wishes that the defence services was more transparent with it's acquisitions given their affinity for throwing up inexplicable decisions.

Take the F-18 Superhornets for example;It came packed with stealth features and Raytheon AESA customized for especially for theIAF.The IAF didn't like it;I am alright with that as long as they point to the specific criteria that the rejection was based on.Even the IAF segment that brief the American contingent on why the bird was rejected spoke in broad generalities.Hope you understand the predicament for common folks.

A good post bro. They are transparent and clear. may not be to you or me or the population at large, but they are to the MOD and the GOI. Remember, buying a fighter is not the same as buying a commercial airliner. We are not told many things as it is not in the best interests of the nation to divulge certain security issues. We do not need to know. All those who are in the loop would have signed the Official Secrets Act.

It is amply clear now from whatever has trickled down to the media that the Americans were offering us considerably downgraded versions of the SH. Even the versions which were/are being supplied to Japan/Australia are superior to the ones we would have ended up with. And even these versions offered to America's closest allies (which list does not include us) are in turn far less capable than what USN uses. Furthermore, there were considerable restrictions on the employment of these fighters, issues of TOT and many more aspects. Finally, do not forget that the SH air frames are over 3 decades old. we have simply gone for newer and more advanced fighters.

 

[cyphercide]

A good post bro. They are transparent and clear. may not be to you or me or the population at large, but they are to the MOD and the GOI. Remember, buying a fighter is not the same as buying a commercial airliner. We are not told many things as it is not in the best interests of the nation to divulge certain security issues. We do not need to know. All those who are in the loop would have signed the Official Secrets Act.

It is amply clear now from whatever has trickled down to the media that the Americans were offering us considerably downgraded versions of the SH. Even the versions which were/are being supplied to Japan/Australia are superior to the ones we would have ended up with. And even these versions offered to America's closest allies (which list does not include us) are in turn far less capable than what USN uses. Furthermore, there were considerable restrictions on the employment of these fighters, issues of TOT and many more aspects. Finally, do not forget that the SH air frames are over 3 decades old. we have simply gone for newer and more advanced fighters.

Well,If that's what the explanation you really want to go with.I have,till date,not received a satisfactory reply as to why F/A-18 Super Hornets were canned.I was going for a detailed reply then scrapped it realizing it's pointless.

My father was a CO in the Navy who retired last year and I do have a idea on how the whole procurement business works.To explain further would mean to divulge information which I wouldn't be comfortable sharing out here.

 

[pmukherjee]

Well,If that's what the explanation you really want to go with.I have,till date,not received a satisfactory reply as to why F/A-18 Super Hornets were canned.I was going for a detailed reply then scrapped it realizing it's pointless.

My father was a CO in the Navy who retired last year and I do have a idea on how the whole procurement business works.To explain further would mean to divulge information which I wouldn't be comfortable sharing out here.

Refer to 1:31 and onwards..... These are US experts discussing the issue, not Indian.

 

[cyphercide]

^^^ Like I stated earlier,If AESA radars count as obsolete avionics,a war tested/Navy ready version at hand,a futuristic EW variant(EA-18G) also available on the format counts as inferior to the European birds...I say go for it!!!

 

[MrIndianSikh]

Is India getting a UCAV ?

yes the Rustom UCAV variants along with the Aura i believe IAF is looking to procure foreign UCAV's as well