BENGALURU: “Today academia, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and the industry are working in silos with little overlap. We need to look at a model where all three collaborate to meet emerging challenges,” said DRDO Chairman Samir V Kamat.
Speaking at the 15th Air Chief Marshal LM Khatre Memorial Lecture in Bengaluru on Saturday, Kamat added that there is a serious need to focus on capacity-building. “We are one of the highest engineer-producing nations in the world, but a lot of our engineers don’t have the skill to take up R&D work. We have to build real capacity in engineering colleges, where they get hands-on experience in using state-of-the-art equipment and solve research problems, so that when they graduate, they can do cutting-edge work in research. We need to upgrade our infrastructure and pay our professors much higher.”
Kamat also pointed out that India is at least 10-15 years behind most countries in traditional technologies, and with a focus on disruptive technology, the country can leapfrog and be on par with them. Referring to the development of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) -- a single-seat, twin-engine combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy -- Kamat said it will be delivered by 2028.
Kamat also spoke about India’s growing appetite for risk and highlighted that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has approved the Technology Development Fund (TDP) to be used for funding high-risk projects. “TDP will become the equivalent of US’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which funds projects with a failure possibility as high as 80%,” he added.
Stressing the need to improve R&D spending and defence budget, the DRDO chairman stated that India spends a minuscule 0.65% of the GDP in the sector, compared to the US at 2.83% and China at 2.14% of their GDP.
DRDO’s plans include highendurance autonomous vehicles -- indigenous conventional submarines, infantry combat vehicles, robotic soldiers and more -- for the Armed Forces. A light tank is currently in the prototype stage and is expected to be delivered to the Indian Army by 2027
‘Kaveri engine a rookie mistake’
Mentioning that aero engineering is one of the most difficult technologies to build, DRDO Chairman Samir V Kamat said, “We developed the fourth-generation Kaveri engine, which was a credible effort by one of DRDO’s labs. Unfortunately, our engine did not deliver the thrust level required for our Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) - Tejas.
The mistake we made was designing a platform and engine together. That’s never done. You design a platform around the available engine and engine development is a continuous process; that was a rookie mistake. Kamat further reiterated that engine development takes 15-20 years. Meanwhile, to reduce the risk of aero engine development, the DRDO is positively looking at collaborating with OEMs on developing the next-generation highthrust engines. The organisation has been in talks with three unions: Safran from France, Rolls-Royce from the UK and General Electric from the US. Safran and Rolls-Royce have assured that their governments have permitted them that during the collaborative development, the entire intellectual property will rest with India, which will help the country build capacity