In a major boost to Indian forces deployed opposite China in Ladakh, premier defence research agency Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and private sector firm Larsen and Toubro (L&T) are at advanced stage of trials of the indigenous Light Tank Zorawar.

DRDO chief Dr Samir V Kamat today reviewed the progress made in the project at the Larsen and Toubro plant at Hajira in Gujarat.

#WATCH | Exclusive footage of the light tank Zorawar developed jointly by DRDO and Larsen and Toubro. The tank project being developed for the Indian Army was reviewed by DRDO chief Dr Samir V Kamat in Hazira, Gujarat today. The tank has been developed by the DRDO to meet the… pic.twitter.com/bkJHdWkoWo

— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2024

Developed in a record time of two years for high altitude areas of Ladakh, the tank is testimony to Indian progress in indigenous manufacturing.

The DRDO and L&T have integrated USVs in loitering munitions in the tank learning lessons from the Russia and Ukraine conflict.

The light tank Zorawar weighs 25 tonnes. It is the first time, a fresh tank has been designed and made ready for trials in such a short time.

59 of these tanks will be provided to the Army initially and it will be a front runner for the major programme of 295 more of these armoured vehicles.

The Indian Air Force can supply two tanks at a time in the C-17 class transport aircraft as the tank is light and can be run at high speeds in mountain valleys.

The trials are expected to be completed in the next 12-18 months and be ready for induction.

Even though the first ammunition is coming from Belgium, the DRDO is ready to develop the ammunition indigenously.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Amid the large-scale requirement for shoulder-fired air defence missiles, DRDO is going to carry out trials of the indigenous shoulder-fired air defence missiles before handing them over to the Indian Army for user trials.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation has been developing Very Short Range Air Defence missiles to meet the requirements of the Indian Army and Air Force to tackle aerial targets like fast-moving drones, fighter aircraft and helicopters in border areas.

DRDO is looking to carry out high-altitude trials of the Indigenous tripod-fired short-range air defence missile in mountainous regions like Ladakh or Sikkim, defence officials told ANI.

After successful completion of the trials, the missile system will be handed over to the users for their trials and assessments, they said.

The missile system has been able to lock on and take out both long-range and short-range targets.

The issues with the short-range targeting have been sorted out and the system is moving ahead progressively, the officials said.

Indian forces, with the Indian Army in the lead, have been trying to fulfil the shortages of different types of very short-range air defence missiles in their inventory.

The Indian Army is progressing in two cases worth Rs 6,800 crore for developing Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) systems indigenously, amid a lack of inventory of shoulder-fired missiles to tackle aerial threats from Pakistan and China.

The current VSHORAD missiles in the Army and Air Force’s inventory are all equipped with lR homing guidance systems, while the Igla 1M VSHORAD missile system was inducted in 1989 and was planned for de-induction in 2013.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A unit of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully developed the lightest bulletproof jacket in the country for protection against the highest threat level 6, an official statement said on Tuesday.

This jacket is based on a new design approach where novel material along with new processes has been used, the statement issued by the Ministry of Defence said.

“DRDO’s Defence Materials and Stores Research and Development Establishment (DMSRDE), Kanpur has successfully developed the lightest bulletproof jacket in the country for protection against 7.62 x 54 R API (level 6 of BIS 17051) ammunition. Recently, this bulletproof jacket was successfully tested at TBRL, Chandigarh as per BIS 17051-2018,” it said.

DMSRDE, Kanpur has successfully developed indigenous light weight Bullet Proof Jacket( BPJ) for protection against highest threat level 6 of BIS. This is the first of its kind in monolithic ceramic which can stop 6 7.62×54 API bullets@DefenceMinIndia@SpokespersonMoDpic.twitter.com/v8O43kf8hC

— DRDO (@DRDO_India) April 23, 2024

The front hard armour panel (HAP) of this jacket “defeats multiple hits (six shots) of 7.62×54 R API (sniper rounds) in both ICW (in-conjunction with) and standalone design”, the statement said.

The ergonomically designed front HAP is made of a monolithic ceramic plate with polymer backing which enhances wearability and comfort during an operation.

“The areal density of ICW hard armour panel (HAP) and standalone HAP is less than 40 kg/m2 and 43 kg/m2 respectively,” the statement said.

The Department of Defence R&D secretary and DRDO chairman has congratulated DMSRDE for the successful development of this bulletproof jacket, it said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New generation ballistic missile Agni-Prime was successfully flight-tested by Strategic Forces Command & DRDO off the Odisha coast on April 3, 2024. Photo: X/@DRDO_India

India successfully flight tested the new generation ballistic missile Agni-Prime from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.

The Defence Ministry said the test-flight was carried out on April 3 evening.

It said the test met all the trial objectives validating its reliable performance, as confirmed from the data captured by a number of range sensors deployed at different locations.

“Strategic Forces Command (SFC), along with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), conducted the successful flight-test of new generation ballistic missile Agni-Prime from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha at around 1900 hours on April 3,” the Ministry said in a statement.

The launch was witnessed by the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of Strategic Forces Command and senior officials from DRDO and the Indian Army.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO, SFC and the Armed Forces for the successful test.

He stated that the successful development and induction of the missile will be an excellent force multiplier for the Armed Forces.

Chief of Defence Staff General Chauhan and Chairman DRDO Samir V. Kamat appreciated the efforts of the SFC and DRDO for the successful flight test.

New Delhi:

India successfully flight tested the new generation ballistic missile Agni-Prime from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.

The defence ministry said the test-flight was carried out on Wednesday evening.

It said the test met all the trial objectives validating its reliable performance, as confirmed from the data captured by a number of range sensors deployed at different locations.

“Strategic Forces Command (SFC), along with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), conducted the successful flight-test of new generation ballistic missile Agni-Prime from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha at around 1900 hours on April 3,” the ministry said in a statement.

The launch was witnessed by the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of Strategic Forces Command and senior officials from DRDO and the Indian Army.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO, SFC and the Armed Forces for the successful test.

He stated that the successful development and induction of the missile will be an excellent force multiplier for the Armed Forces.

Chief of Defence Staff General Chauhan and Chairman DRDO Samir V Kamat appreciated the efforts of the SFC and DRDO for the successful flight test.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

It was a celestial encounter unlike any other in India’s history, like shooting a bullet with a bullet at a distance of nearly 300 km. 

On this day five years ago, India’s defence scientists shot down a live Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)-made satellite and the country celebrated the unique ‘hit-to-kill’ achievement. 

Reliving that moment, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, former scientific advisor to the defence minister and the person who spearheaded the test, said, “Anti-satellite capability works as a deterrent in protecting India’s space assets, and a test was conducted smoothly and secretly five years ago”.

On March 27, 2019, scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lay in patient wait as the Indian-made satellite Microsat-R came into the field of vision. A single missile was fired from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal and, less than three minutes later, the satellite was blown to pieces. 

Codenamed ‘Mission Shakti’, this was hailed as a big success since only the US, Russia and China had carried out anti-satellite weapons tests till then. The test was also described as being akin to carrying out a surgical strike in space. 

Sitting Ducks

India had shot down a low-earth orbiting satellite using a kinetic weapon and demonstrated its capability of defending its own space assets and also destroying any satellites that pose a threat to its vast constellation of over 50 satellites in which the country has invested more than Rs 50,000 crore.

The satellites were, till recently, the largest such constellation in the Indo-Pacific region and these need to be protected very actively as they are sitting ducks. 

A Speck In Space

In his address that day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not confirm which satellite was shot down by DRDO. Subsequently, it became clear it was the satellite called Microsat-R which was launched at an altitude of 283 kilometres by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on January 24, 2019. 

‘Mission Shakti’ demonstrated that India can actively kill any satellite orbiting at an altitude of 300 kilometres, and the country has had the capability to conduct anti-satellite weapons tests for at least fifteen years, said a DRDO scientist. 

Bringing down a satellite at that altitude is not easy since it would be travelling at a velocity of about 28,080 kilometres per hour, or 7.8 kilometres per second, and targeting such a small speck – as the satellite would appear at that distance – is a big challenge.

It was later confirmed that India had used a new missile system named Prithvi Defence Vehicle Mark-II, which can target fast-moving satellites and bring them down. The missile was 13 metres long and weighed nearly 20 tonnes, but achieved pinpoint accuracy. 

Space Debris Row

Many nations, including the US, worried that such a test would cause space debris that poses problems for other satellites. There was much criticism of the earlier Chinese anti-satellite weapons test since it had created hundreds of pieces of space debris. 

India had argued that 270-300 pieces of debris generated by the test was only a tiny proportion of millions of pieces floating in space.

So did India’s satellite killer test cause debris that endangered the International Space Station, as was claimed by the then chief of NASA, Jim Bridenstine? Dr G Madhavan Nair, former ISRO chief, had said, “India’s test done at an altitude of 300 km may not leave space debris for too long.” And he stands vindicated as all debris has since disintegrated and burnt.  

‘Evil’ Eyes

Wing Commander (Retd) Rakesh Sharma, India’s only astronaut to have gone into space, said Mission Shakti gave India “the capability to deal with the ‘evil’ eyes in space”.

Speaking at the ‘International Seminar on Aerospace Power in Future Conflicts’ in New Delhi today, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force, said, “The evolution of aerospace power is not merely a matter of technological prowess but also a testament to the ingenuity and adaptability of human innovation in the face of emerging threats and challenges.”

“Space has emerged as a critical domain for the conduct of military operations, wherein seamless communication, navigation and surveillance capabilities would enhance the survivability of modern military forces. As nations increasingly rely on space-based assets for building strategic advantage, militarisation and weaponisation of space has become an inevitable reality,” he added. 

‘No Arms Race’

The Ministry of External Affairs had asserted in 2019: “India has no intention of entering into an arms race in outer space. We have always maintained that space must be used only for peaceful purposes. We are against the weaponisation of outer space and support international efforts to reinforce the safety and security of space-based assets. India believes that outer space is the common heritage of humankind and it is the responsibility of all space-faring nations to preserve and promote the benefits flowing from advances made in space technology and its applications for all.”

Dr Ravi Gupta, a former scientist with DRDO said, “When it comes to the protection of space assets and defence against strategic weapons, deterrence is the best defence. Mission Shakti gave Bharat’s deterrence capabilities a quantum jump, and Divyastra (the Agni 5-Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicles test of March 11, 2024) was yet another quantum jump.”

Former scientific advisor Reddy said, “Mission Shakti was a huge technological milestone achieved by India. The test was conducted leaving minimal debris behind and, today, no debris exists in space arising out of the mission. On the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the test was done to show the technological capability to the world.’

It’s been five years since then, and India has not tested an anti-satellite weapon again. 

New Delhi:

Agni-5 MIRV, the landmark ballistic weapons system, takes India’s second-strike capability to the next level, giving it “higher potency, better influence and denser zone,” said Dr V K Saraswat, former Director General of DRDO and currently Member Science and Technology, NITI Aayog, who was deeply involved with its development. The missile, developed over 10 years by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, took its first flight today, placing India in a select group of nations, altering its geopolitic and strategic position and acting as a gamechanger in southeast Asia.

Asked what this weapon would mean for India’s nuclear and missile programme, Dr Saraswat told NDTV that as a “force multiplier” it would increase the weapon’s “radius of influence”.

The new weapon system is based on Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, which means a single missile can deploy multiple nuclear warheads and hit targets at different locations simultaneously.

“It will create a much better annihilation even with one missile. The number of missiles that will be required to be launched in future against an enemy attack would be fewer. This is called Force Multiplier,” Dr Saraswat said.

This, he added, is “a major technology in terms of missile technology, control, guidance, precision”.

The Agni-5 MIRV uses smaller size warheads to generate a greater effect. Dr Saraswat called it an “evolutionary process” of the nuclear technology in which in which India is “nowhere behind”.

The successful test of Agni-5 MIRV was applauded this evening by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said he was ‘Proud of our DRDO scientists for Mission Divyastra”.

“Proud of our DRDO scientists for Mission Divyastra, the first flight test of indigenously developed Agni-5 missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology,’ PM Modi posted on X, formerly Twitter.

President of India Droupadi Murmu said it was an ‘important milestone in India’s march towards greater geo-strategic role and capabilities”.

The technology is currently possessed by a handful of nations including the US, UK, Russia, France and China.

New Delhi:

 In the case of the seizure of suspicious items being shipped from China for possible use in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, a Defence Research and Development Organisation ( DRDO) team on Monday submitted its official report to the competent authority, said government sources.

According to the report by the DRDO experts, the seized large-size Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines are dual-use equipment and can be used for military applications, the sources added.

Notably, security agencies at Mumbai’s Nhava Sheva port intercepted a Karachi-bound ship from China suspected of containing a consignment that could be used for Pakistan’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, said a source.

The team from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had examined the consignment, which is primarily suspected of being used in Pakistan’s nuclear initiatives, particularly in manufacturing critical components for missile development.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)