DRDO chief interview: “We must work today to develop the technologies of tomorrow”

At Defexpo 2020, the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) chief, Dr Satheesh Reddy, spoke to Ajai Shukla about the “Make in India” initiative. Edited excerpts:

Q.        How can multiple agencies -- the DRDO, defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) private industry and academia function cooperatively in developing and manufacturing defence equipment?

In the “Make in India” programme, the role of the DRDO is to support industry with technologies that are, as far as possible, developed within the country. These technologies must be transferred to the industry so that they are not reliant on outside technologies. Most technology transfer that happens is “manufacturing technology.” There is very little transfer of “know how” and “know why”. In contrast, technology developed by the DRDO has been completely developed in-house and in the country. This has involved a knowledge-debate within academia, within R&D organisations and within industry. So the DRDO must focus on developing as many critical technologies as possible and transferring them to the industry.

Meanwhile, the industry’s role should not be that of a mere producer. It must upgrade skills from “build to print” (i.e. translate a blueprint into a product) to “build to specs” (translate product specifications into a blueprint, and thence into a product). That would take much of the development load off the DRDO, which can then concentrate on developing core technologies. Today, if we want to satisfy the armed forces, or to address the export market, we need to make systems that incorporate state-of-the-art technologies. So we must work today to develop the technologies of tomorrow, in order to become state-of-the-art.

India has been mostly a technology follower. Weaponry and products come to us and then, years later, we try to develop the technologies in those. That has to change, and we have to become a technology leader, or at least contemporary. I cannot sell a system that incorporates decade-old technology.

Q.        Given that we are technology followers, isn’t this going to take a long time?

No. In some technology areas, we are already very strong. For example, we already have all the technologies that are needed in missile systems. Today, we can develop any missile system that may be required. Similarly, in radar technology, we are completely self-sufficient. Even industry is equipped and experienced to support us in this field. We are also strong in fields like sonar, torpedoes, electronic warfare systems, airborne warning and control systems (AWACS) and artillery guns.

In building these systems we operate at the technology frontier. We are amongst the six or seven most advanced nations in these areas. So, in these areas, we should think innovatively about what will be required after five years and start developing that today. In five years, we could have a technologically leading, first-of-its-kind system.

Q.        Who should be responsible for this technology anticipation and planning?

It has to be a combination of R&D organisations and academia, with inputs from the armed forces.

Q.        Under someone like the DRDO chairman, or the Scientific Advisor to the Government?

We already meet regularly and talk to the armed forces for drawing up its LTIPP (long term integrated perspective plan). We also take feedback from academia about what basic research and applied research is under way, and we try and assess what shape the country is in terms of scientific and technological capability. We have not set up a formal body for this purpose, but we have prepared a technology roadmap in DRDO based on these discussions. Each of the DRDO’s laboratories has a technology roadmap and all of this comes together in the larger assessment.

Q.        In developing weapons platforms in India, traditionally DRDO has functioned as a systems integrator. Do you believe DRDO should concentrate on developing core technologies, while capable private firms take on the role of systems integrators?

Absolutely. The days when DRDO used to be systems integrator have gone. Already, some DPSUs have begun functioning as systems integrators and soon private industry will also do systems integration. We have brought in a concept called DCPP – development cum production partner. This involves selecting a private firm as the DCPP, who joins on Day-1 of the project and works and learns with the DRDO, which also benefits from the firm’s capabilities. The firm then becomes the manufacturing partner when the product goes into production.

Q.        But in the model you describe, DRDO seems to be the lead integrator…

No, the private firm is the integrator; the DRDO only oversees. The first time, it will be difficult for him to be the lead integrator. For example, in developing a new missile system, we would oversee the working of our DCPP. By the end of the development phase, the firm will have absorbed the technology and developed capability and experience. The DCPP also manufactures the system, so there is a smooth induction into service in large numbers.

Q.        With the DPSUs not having functioned well as production partners, is it time to give private firms greater opportunities as production partners?

I believe that DPSUs and private industry can co-exist. There is an excellent model for cooperation in the Akash missile, for which the military has placed orders worth Rs 25,000 crore. Bharat Dynamics is the lead production agency, but 85 per cent of the production value has gone to private industries as Tier-1, Tier-2 and Tier-3 suppliers.

Q.        But is private industry confined to the role of lower order suppliers?

No. The Akash missile has four sections and there are private firms that supply an entire section, fully integrated with all its electronic and mechanical packages. There is a tier-ised production chain that enables BDL to produce a significant number of missiles every month. So there is space for both public and private firms to operate. We cannot just close a DPSU. And, when we give the job of lead production agency to a private sector firm, there is a need to protect the Tier-1, Tier-2 and Tier-3 suppliers. Otherwise MSMEs will vanish.

Cracking defence exports

By Ajai Shukla

Unsigned editorial in Business Standard

10th February 2020

New Delhi’s aim of increasing defence exports ten-fold, from the existing level of about 2,000-3,000 crore annually to over $5 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) each year, was first enunciated in the Defence Production Policy of 2018 (DPrP-2018). At Defexpo 2020 in Lucknow last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed that pledge. Helped along by adding the export of civil aerospace products to that of defence kit, the export figure has reached a high of Rs 10,700 crore this year. Even so, meeting the DPrP-2018 export target still requires a three-and-a-half fold increase, which will take some doing. 

Multiplying defence exports is crucial for meeting the DPrP-2018 target of taking India into the league of one of the world’s top five defence producers, with an annual turnover of US $26 billion (Rs 180,000 crore). Currently, defence production is a mere Rs 90,000 crore per year and doubling this would require vastly increased exports. The currentdefence capital allocation is Rs 118,534 crore and the lion’s share of this is spent on foreign equipment. Next, the defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) get to feed at the table, with the defence ministry ensuring their order books are full. The left overs, if any, are then made available to India’s private sector defence firms. The defence ministry official who interfaces with industry explicitly spelt out in a seminar of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in June that the private sector must export to survive. He warned the limited capital budget would be barely enough for paying instalments for equipment purchased in previous years, and for purchases from the public sector defence production units. Private defence firms could expect only “a small share of the pie,” he said.

To be sure, the government has moved purposefully to boost defence exports. It has charged defence attaches posted to Indian embassies across the world with seeking out opportunities to supply their host countries with Indian military equipment. New Delhi has created a liberalised trade environment for Indian defence exports by obtaining entry into the four global export control regimes. India is already a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group. Entry into the fourth – the Nuclear Suppliers Group – could be nigh. In October, Indian officials invited in 50 foreign military attaches posted with their embassies in India and made a pitch for Indian defence and aerospace products. To facilitate sales, New Delhi has offered friendly foreign countries such as Myanmar, Maldives and Sri Lanka “credit lines” for purchasing Indian defence equipment. DPSUs have been given export targets of 25 per cent of their turnover. A nodal agency, the Indigenous Defence Equipment Exporters Association (IDEEA), was set up in October for processing defence export inquiries from prospective customers across the globe.

Notwithstanding these measures, a large boost in defence exports requires the emphasis to change from exporting low-value ammunition, spares and aerospace components to the export ofhigh-value, complex combat platforms such as the Tejas fighter, Dhruv and Rudra helicopters, the Arjun tank, Akash air defence systems, Pinaka rocket launchers and a range of indigenous warships including corvettes, frigates and destroyers. The Indian military’s reluctance to buy these platforms raises legitimate questions amongst potential customers. The defence ministry must ensure the defence forces induct indigenous weaponry into service, working with industry to incrementally develop and improve the products, even as the resulting exports create economy of scale, bring down equipment prices and generate strategic heft for India.

Delay in ordering Arjun tank underlines the army's reluctance to “Make in India”

By Ajai Shukla

Lucknow

Business Standard, 9th Feb 2020

Although “Make in India” has been the central motif of the on-going Defexpo 2020 in Lucknow, the army continues to block further purchases of the Arjun main battle tank (MBT), years after it has met all the army’s ever-increasing demands.

With the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) awaiting a long-cleared order for 118 Arjun MBTs, the ministry of defence (MoD) instead asked the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) last November to build 464 Russian-origin T-90S tanks at the Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi (HVF). With each T-90 costing about Rs 28 crore, the order is worth an estimated Rs 13,000 crore.

The army continues to block the indigenous Arjun tank even though, in a comparative trial the army conducted in the Rajasthan desert in March 2010, the Arjun proved itself equal to, or better than, the Russian T-90.

In the trial, one squadron (14 tanks) of Arjuns was pitted against an equal number of T-90s. Top army generals who witnessed the trial admitted the Arjun performed superbly. Whether driving cross-country over rugged sand dunes; or accurately hitting targets with its powerful main gun; the Arjun established it was a tank to reckon with.

Yet, the army refused to order more Arjun tanks, beyond the 124 it had already inducted into service. Army insiders say there is an ingrained belief that Russian tanks are better than Indian ones. However, it was officially stated that the 62.5-tonne Arjun was too heavy for roads and bridges along the Pakistan border, and too wide to be transported by train.

Under pressure from the MoD to order another 118 Arjuns, the army then demanded several capability enhancements in the tank to make it more effective. At a meeting of the MoD-led Arjun Steering Committee in 2010, the army demanded an improved version of the tank, which would be called the Arjun Mark 2.

The Arjun Mark 2 was required to have 83 capability enhancements, including 15 major and 68 minor changes. Incredibly, given the army’s complaint that the tank was too heavy, the new enhancements would make the tank heavier by another 6 tonnes.

These included the fitment on the tank of mine ploughs (1.6 tonnes extra), explosive reactive armour (1.5 tonnes), suspension improvements (one tonne) and another two tonnes in other areas. Having complained earlier that a 62.5 tonne Arjun tank was too heavy, the army signed off on a six-tonne weight increase to 68.5 tonnes.

In August 2011, the MoD announced it had “cleared the proposal for placement of indent for 124 MBT Arjun Mark 2”. It said each enhanced Arjun would cost Rs 37 crore and the first batch would roll out by 2015.

By June 2012, the DRDO offered the Arjun for trials with all the enhancements, except one: a cannon-launched guided missile (CLGM) the army wanted to fire through the Arjun’s main gun. The DRDO had sourced the Lahat CLGM from Israel, but that could strike targets between 2-5 kilometres (km) away. The army insisted on being able to strike targets as close as 1.2 km.

The DRDO pointed out that the Arjun’s powerful main gun had already proved its ability to destroy targets at ranges out to 2 km. But the army insisted the CLGM should be usable against targets 1.2 km away. So the DRDO began work on an indigenous CLGM to meet those specifications. 

By 2015, a series of trials had validated the improvements the army demanded. Even the CLGM’s laser designator was tested and validated with Lahat missiles. The DRDO asked for production order, promising to develop and supply the missile on priority. 

However, the army dilly-dallied for three years, until March 2018, when it was agreed that the next batch of Arjuns would be supplied without missile firing capability, which would follow up separately. This version would be designated Arjun Mark 1A.

After several months of delay, Arjun Mark 1A trials were held in December 2018 and the tank found fit in all respects. The army’s trial team recommended the Arjun Mark 1A be inducted into service.

Incredibly, more than a year later, the army has not yet placed an indent for 118 Arjun Mark 1A. It has raised numerous issues – including ammunition availability, non-availability of spares and low indigenous content – to successfully avoid placing an order.

Were an indent to be placed today, it would still take HVF about 36 months to start delivering completed Arjun tanks. The DRDO is confident it would develop the CLGM by then, so those 118 tanks will actually be Arjun Mark 2, with full CLGM capability.

Asked whether there was frustration over the lack of orders, DRDO chairman, Satheesh Reddy told Business Standard: “No, we cannot get frustrated. We are very positive. The user trials for the Mark 1A have been completed in December 2018 and we have even developed the ammunition now. I am sure that the Indian Army will soon be inducting the Arjun Mark 1A.”

No coordination in radio procurement, army, navy and air force could be fighting in silos

By Ajai Shukla

Lucknow

Business Standard, 8th Feb 20

Owing to the absence of tri-service coordination in buying radio equipment, the army, navy and Indian Air Force (IAF) could find themselves cut off from each other in future operations, simply because they are unable to communicate and share data.

In planning and procuring their next generation of tactical radio sets, all three services are moving in completely different directions, which could result in their being isolated in battle and unable to coordinate operations.

The IAF is equipping its aircraft and ground stations with cutting edge “software defined radio” (SDR), which will be integrated onto its platforms by Israeli firm, Rafael (not to be confirmed with the French Rafale fighter). The radio sets themselves will be manufactured in India in a joint venture (JV) between Rafael and Indian firm, Astra Microwave, called Astra Rafael Comsys (ARC).

In contrast, the navy has chosen to source its future radio equipment from Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), which has developed its own SDR sets. Warships have the luxury of ample space to install their SDR sets, unlike fighter aircraft in which space is critical. Therefor, the navy is not concerned about the size and weight of BEL’s SDR equipment, which is too bulky for aircraft.

Meanwhile, the army is following a third line by inviting India’s defence industry to compete in developing SDR equipment under the Make-2 procurement category. Under Make-2, companies develop equipment at their own cost and offer it to the MoD, which chooses what it likes.

Unless there is intervention by the newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), whose mandate includes coordinating equipment procurement between the three services, the military’s inter-operability could be seriously undermined.

To this day, the army’s armoured regiments encounter serious interoperability problems, simply because some units were equipped with Israeli TADIRAN radio sets, while others operated STARS V2 radio sets built and supplied by BEL.

With these two sets operating on different encryption algorithms, and therefore unable to communicate with each other in secrecy mode, armoured forces are forced to communicate in clear, allowing the enemy to easily intercept and monitor our radio communications.

Starting from 2004, the army bought some 20,000 TADIRAN radio sets. Despite the problems of interoperability with BEL’s equipment, another purchase is being made of over 5,000 more.

In switching to next-generation communications, the IAF has taken the lead. Starting from 2012, it identified SDR as the technology of the future and initiated the purchase of 450-500 radio sets. These are to be fitted across its entire aircraft fleet, as well as ground stations, ensuring secure communications across the entire operational spectrum.

In 2017, a contract worth over $100 million was signed with Israeli firm, Rafael, for almost 500 SDR sets. In 2018, Rafael and the IAF began the complex process of integrating the SDR sets into all the different fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters in the fleet. 

Once that is completed, ARC – the Rafael-Astra JV – will begin manufacturing the SDR sets in India. Contacted for details, Eli Hefets of Rafael stated that Rafale has placed an SDR order worth about $30 million on ARC, and that the radio sets the JV would supply the IAF would have an indigenization component of over 80 per cent.

Hefets stated that, while this production would bring in offsets credits for Rafael, it would continue production even after the Indian military’s requirements were satisfied. “We cannot have a short-term approach towards setting up production of such sophisticated equipment in India. We have trained the workers, bought machinery, qualified the product and sourced sub-systems and components from over 100 small Indian companies. This is for the long term,” said Hefets.

It is learnt that ARC would also be participating in the army’s tender for SDR. However, there is no certainty it would win, which would leave all three services with different – and probably incompatible – radio equipment.

The army order is potentially massive, due to its size. The tri-service Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP), which spells out the three services’ equipment requirements out to 2027, states that the army could require about 60,000 radio devices – which include vehicle-mounted, man-portable as well as handheld sets. However, a back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals that the real requirement could be twice that number.

The army has already issued a Request for Information (RFI), which envisages a futuristic IP-based, flexible, redundant communications network, based on SDR.

HAL’s light utility helicopter (LUH) is certified for operations

By Ajai Shukla

Lucknow

Business Standard, 8th Feb 2020

In a major landmark for its indigenous helicopter programme, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was awarded “initial operational clearance” (IOC) on Friday for its newest helicopter – the eponymous Light Utility Helicopter (LUH).

The LUH is a lightweight utility helicopter that HAL developed to replace the army’s and air force’s obsolescent fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters. 

HAL was handed over the IOC at Defexpo 2020, in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. 

This certification, issued by the Centre for Military Airworthiness (CEMILAC), brings the LUH much closer to being manufactured in large numbers.

In December 2018, the LUH passed an important landmark, flying to a height of 20,000 feet in the Ladakh sector. 

The three LUH prototypes have completed over 550 test flights, including under the most demanding terrain and climatic conditions.

This extreme performance is deemed essential for the LUH, which will be required to supply provisions to, and evacuate casualties from, posts like the 20,997 feet-high Sonam Post above the Siachen Glacier – the highest inhabited spot on the planet.

The LUH will be one of the two helicopters that will meet the army’s urgent need for 394 light helicopters. A joint venture between HAL and Russian Helicopters will build 197 Kamov-226T to meet the military’s urgent requirements. Separately, HAL will manufacture 187 LUH – which includes 126 for the army and 61 for the IAF.

For building the Kamov-226T in India, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government signed an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with Russia. This did away with the need for competitive tendering.

For building the LUH in larger numbers, HAL is looking beyond purely military orders at the civil and export markets as well. 

After the prototype’s rigorous flight-test programme, the public at Defexpo 2020 got a chance to view the LUH, which is participating in the flying display as well as the static display. 

Now, with the IOC recognising the performance of the LUH in all terrains and under all weather conditions, HAL will now start integrating and flight testing the LUH’s mission and specialised role equipment, said Arup Chatterjee, HAL’s design chief.

The LUH is powered by a single Shakti engine, which HAL designed in partnership with French engine-maker Safran. Now built in India, the Shakti engine also powers three other HAL-built helicopters: the Dhruv, an armed Dhruv variant called Rudra, and the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), which is close to being accepted into service.

While the larger, 5-tonne Dhruv, Rudra and LCH have twin-Shakti engines, the three-tonne LUH is powered by a single Shakti engine. Safran markets this engine as the Ardiden 1U, while HAL calls it the Shakti 1U.

HAL states the LUH will have a top speed of 220 kilometres per hour, a service ceiling of 6,500 metres and a range of 350 kilometres with a 400 kilogramme payload. The helicopter will perform the roles of reconnaissance and surveillance, high-altitude casualty evacuation and as a light transport helicopter.

[ENDS]

Deal Street: HAL signs multiple agreements

·      HAL signed a ‘Lease Agreement’ with Turbo Aviation Private Ltd (TAPL) for operating two Do-228 aircraft under the UDAN scheme. TAPL will operate two Do-228 aircraft manufactured by HAL. 

·      HAL also signed a contract with the Indian Coast Guard for midlife upgrades of 17 Coast Guard Dornier-228 aircraft manufactured by HAL Kanpur. 

·      HAL also signed an MoU with IIT Kanpur for providing Do-228 or HS 748 aircraft towards extending logistic support to the Institution’s projects in the field of ‘Cloud Seeding’. 

·      HAL and Rosoboronexport signed an MoU for export of spares and services to friendly countries for which license has been given to HAL. 

UK-India defence cooperation has a new possiblity: jointly designing India’s aircraft carrier

 By Ajai Shukla

Lucknow

Business Standard, 7th Feb 20

The British Minister for Defence Procurement, James Heappey, has confirmed the UK’s eagerness to assist the Indian Navy with designing and building its second indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vishal.

Asked whether the UK had offered carrier design cooperation at the political level, Heappey affirmed: “Very much so! At the very highest level.”

Cooperation on aircraft carrier design was also discussed on November 28, in an India-UK meeting in New Delhi chaired by the two defence secretaries.

Terming aircraft carrier design “the most totemic” of UK-India cooperation opportunities, Heappey told Business Standard: “The Royal Navy has world-beating electrical propulsion and operational experience of managing electrical propulsion. That is a real opportunity to develop capability and understanding together.”

The Indian Navy wants INS Vishal to be a 65,000 tonne carrier with an all-electric propulsion system – both features that are common with the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers: Her Majesty’s Ship (HMS) Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

For several years, New Delhi has sought to design INS Vishal in partnership with the US Navy, the world’s pre-eminent builder and operator of aircraft carriers. America operates 11 of the world’s 21 carriers and, by far, the most potent ones.

Towards this end, the Indian and US navies established a joint working group (JWG) on aircraft carrier cooperation in January 2015. India was considering a nuclear powered carrier, like the US vessels. It is also planning a state-of-the-art American “electromagnetic aircraft launch system” (EMALS) that can launch not just fighter aircraft, but also the game-changing E2D Hawkeye airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. 

However, with nuclear propulsion ruled out because India does not have a suitable nuclear reactor, and severe budget constraints casting a shadow over the EMALS, INS Vishal is increasingly looking more like the British carriers.

One feature that is being considered for INS Vishal would differentiate it from British carriers. Both HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales incorporate “short take off but vertical landing” (STOVL) systems to operate their aircraft. Their on-board F-35B fighters take off from a ski-jump and land back by hovering like a helicopter and lowering itself onto the deck. 

In contrast, fighters on INS Vishal would take off with the help of a catapult and land by snagging their tail hooks on arrester wires laid across the deck, which then unspool, dragging the fighter to a halt. This is called “catapult assisted takeoff but arrested landing” (CATOBAR).

Heappey argues that India does not need to incur the expense of catapult launch systems. Meanwhile, the British carriers are being fitted with arrestor wires.

Revealing that “We are already looking at how we could retrofit an arrester wire onto the Queen Elizabeth carrier deck,” Heappey said: “The crucial thing is that [with] a 65,000 tonne carrier with its existing length of runway and with a ramp on the front, we are confident that an [Indian Navy] fighter jet like the Rafale or the F/A-18 could actually take off from the deck of the Queen Elizabeth without a catapult, just off the ramp. And so that sort of “ramp and trap” solution would suit your existing capability without needing to retrofit a catapult… and we’re looking at developing the arrestor wire anyway, so I think that makes it quite an interesting proposition.”

This system, called “short take off but arrested landing” (STOBAR) is already being used in India’s two existing carriers – INS Vikramaditya and the under-construction INS Vikrant.

Heappey is looking for design cooperation to lead to operational cooperation between the two navies. “How amazing would that be to see the Royal Navy and the Indian Navy steaming in the Indian Ocean with two carrier groups side by side, operating together. At the grand strategic level, what higher ambition could there be?” he said.

The UK is also pushing cooperation with India in the British programme to develop a 6^th-generation fighter called the Tempest. 

Asked what conversations have taken place between the two governments, Heappey said: “Very meaningful ones. It came up in my meeting with the defence minister yesterday… the Indian government, I know is very interested by our future Tempest programme and has seen the opportunity within it.”

Saudi Arabia evaluating Kalyani Group artillery guns: Bharat 52 and 105 Garuda V2

 By Ajai Shukla

Lucknow

Business Standard, 7th Feb 20

The Pune-based Kalyani Group, which has made a major foray into the field of artillery gun systems, is pitching strongly to supply artillery gun systems to the Saudi Arabian military.

Business Standard has learnt that two types of gun systems, both designed and developed by Kalyani Group, are being sent later this year to Saudi Arabia, for trial evaluation by the Royal Saudi Army in the forbidding Saudi Arabian desert.

The guns include the so-called Bharat 52, a 155 millimetre (mm), 52 calibre (cal) towed howitzer that is the first gun the Kalyani Group built. Saudi Arabia will also evaluate the Garuda V2, a 105 mm gun mounted on a light vehicle chassis for added mobility.

Interestingly, Saudi Arabia has not expressed interest in the flagship artillery gun that the Kalyani Group is working one: the eponymous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS). This futuristic DRDO-designed gun is being built by two private firms in parallel -- Kalyani Group and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL).

Kalyani Group, by virtue of its organic skills in metal castings and forgings, is playing the larger role, including building barrels for its own, as well as TASL’s gun.

Baba Kalyani, chief of the Kalyani Group, makes no secret of his intention to sink whatever money it take for dominating artillery gun production in India. In this his flagship company, Bharat Forge, the worlds’ largest producer of forgings and castings, is to play a leading role.

“Kalyani Group is well along in mastering gun production. We are the equal of the world’s top 2-3 companies in artillery systems,” Kalyani told Business Standard.

Kalyani praises the government’s initiative to boost defence exports, which have already multiplied over the last two years to a total of Rs 10,700 crore. The MoD’s Defence Production Policy of 2018 has set an annual defence exports target of $5 billion by 2024.

“The real efforts in export promotion started 5-6 years ago and to be fair to the system, we have made significant headway. We had a conference about six months ago on ways to boost exports. That was attended by India’s military attaches posted in embassies abroad. Now they are at the front end of export promotion in the countries to which they are posted,” said Kalyani.

The hard-driving Kalyani Group chief is launching the development of new guns without waiting for MoD orders. After the army launched a programme to procure 145 ultralight howitzers from the international market – a $700 million contract that BAE Systems eventually won with its M777 gun system – the Kalyani Group has unilaterally designed and built two different ultralight howitzers, which it intends to offer the army.

“We are offering the guns suo moto, under the “Make-2” category,” said Kalyani. Under this procurement category, companies can offer the MoD defence products they have developed at their own cost.

Of these ultralight howitzers, one is a 155 mm, 39-calibre titanium gun that weighs a mere 4.8 tonnes. Kalyani Group has dubbed it Mountain Artillery Gun – Titanium (MArG-T). Its range matches the BAE Systems M777 gun, with conventional ammunition fired to a range of 25 kilometres (km).

The other gun is a larger, cheaper, all-steel 155 mm, 52 calibre gun that weighs 7.8 tonnes and fires conventional ammunition to a range of 30 km.

“The army can choose what it wants: low weight and higher cost; or higher weight and lower cost. We are offering both options,” says a Kalyani engineer.

“Both these guns are truly indigenous, having been designed by our R&D centre in Pune. While Bharat Forge’s metal working skills are acknowledged worldwide, our Pune R&D centre develops the command and control systems, central computers and automation that goes into gun systems,” says Kalyani.

Kalyani Group’s growing skills provide the military with options they could earlier only dream of. In December 2018, with the Sino-Indian border roiled by the recent Doklam confrontation, then army chief, General Bipin Rawat, visited Kalyani Group and asked whether they could build a truck-mounted 155 mm, 39 calibre gun that could move around on the narrow roads of northern Sikkim.

The gun that Kalyani group developed in response is on display at Defexpo. Based on a 4x4 vehicle produced by Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, the so-called “Go Anywhere Vehicle” offers unparalleled mobility. It is going into firing trials immediately after Defexpo. 

The Kalyani Group has a growing relationship with BAE Systems and purchased the British company’s barrel production unit located in the UK. This facility has been physically relocated from the UK to Pune.

For any future artillery orders BAE Systems gets from the international market – including a possible follow-on order from India for more M777 ultralight howitzers – it is likely to source barrels from the Kalyani Group.

Illustrating this relationship, two 155 mm barrels manufactured by Kalyani Group are on display in the BAE Systems stall in Defexpo 2020.