DRDO lab, Navy to dev Kaveri marine engine

[Chanakyaa]

Hi,

I wonder on what facts are you guys basing you opinions on? DRDO is one large research lab whose purpose is to develop defence and related technologies for the country. It is not meant to be a profitable organization and hence its financial auditing is not done – if done, the details are not released for public consumption. However, I remember once during BJP government’s rule in the early years of this decade, the then defence minister George Fernandes motioned that for every rupee spent by the govt on DRDO, it returns Rs. 1.5 to the govt. – meaning the RoI is almost 50%. This was reported in the media then but somehow I am not able to find that report now.

Anyway, I have the MoD’s Annual Report for the financial year 2008-2009. Here are the revenue figures for the Indian DPSUs.

Most of these DPSUs are completely dependent on technology provided DRDO for their products. These companies are merely production units with negligible R&D of their own. The ordinance factory board has no R&D at all. BEL, HAL and other biggies in the list spend miniscule amounts on R&D and employ only a handful of qualified engineers and scientists for R&D. DRDO is their life line and has been for a very long time. Also, note that I have not included the returns from strategic systems like ballistic missiles and other technologies under production. Once, major national projects like LCA, IAC etc. are ready, the revenue figures are gonna shoot up. Gains will be achieved in a staggered manner over a period of time. Even from the figures that I have provided above, you can observe that the total revenue from these companies has shot up by over 23% in just 2 years.

So, now do you admit that DRDO is not a black hole for taxpayers’ money afterall?

Criticism is not a bad thing but I believe it has to be nuanced and based on solid facts. I too agree that DRDO is not managed efficiently. But it is after all a govt. dept. – not very different from Indian Post, Indian Railways etc. in terms of function. There are inherent restraints in all govt. dept. and DRDO is no different. A complete overhaul of the system is required to make it more efficient. That said it doesn’t mean that the scientists and engineers working there are any less competent than their peers in other parts of the world. In fact they are amongst the best in the country. The acceptance rate in DRDO is probably the lowest in the country after ISRO. Just recently, I am told that there was a vacancy for about 300 engineers and over 100,000 applied. Many of my batch mates from IIT-B could not clear the DRDO entrance test and interviews back then when they applied. What does that tell you about the competition at the entrance stage? Even after getting in, every scientist’s performance is scored by his superior on a scale of 100. Only, if one manages to score at least 85 consistently over a period of 4 years will he even be considered for an interview call from the promotions and appraisals committee. I hear that the standards have been further raised and now every scientist is expected to publish a minimum number of papers in international peer reviewed journals before he can be considered for promotions.

Now coming back to the question of privatization, I have a few counter questions for you guys. Pray tell me-

How many world class automobile engines has the Indian private sector produced?

How many world class cars and bikes have they produced which can even come anywhere close to the BMWs and Ferraris?

How many software PRODUCTS does Infosys, Wipro, TCS have?

What products does Reliance have? They import crude, refine it with imported machinery and supply to buyers within and outside the country.

Can you name any product of significance developed by the private sector that can compete with their peers in the global market?

Then on what basis sirs, do you advocate privatization of DRDO? Can the private sector produce a Kaveri engine before GTRE, when they are still struggling to produce an auto engine of global standards?

Hence, this comparison between the private sector and DRDO is fallacious and does not present an accurate picture.

Man Your user Name should have been Statistical Skull !!!
Excellent Post(s) with excellent statistical explanations.

Hats off to ur effort. I can understand the pain u take to come up with these quality posts. Keep it up.
I wish i could give more than just ONE "Thank" to u.. Your individual posts deserves far more than that.

All the Best Mate.

PS : sending this as a note on ur Messages..

 

[deep.ocean]

Seems going to be good thread. In recent years I am just hearing more failures than achievements. Agni is failing again and again.. How can we trust DRDO made system.. They are talking about Agni 4/5 while their Agni 2 is failing.. Arjun failed, LCA seems now a burden that IAF to carry..
They are doing only good in field of cencors and electronic warfare systems but on real Hardware they have given big 0.
I can only say that - We lost in 1962 due to Jawahar Lal Nehru now we will loose due to DRDO..

 

[Tejas-MkII]

Tejas to fly on indigenous Kaveri engine next year: Official

The city-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), which is indigenously developing various types of aero engines, would be fitting its flagship product Kaveri engine to the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas' in the next one year.

Disclosing this to reporters at the 23rd convention of aerospace engineers here GTRE Director T Mohana Rao said the establishment had overcome all obstacles and one of the engines, originally built for the LCA was taken to Russia for testing. Once it passes the test another engine would be shipped later for flying test, he said.

He said the engine would be ready by March or April next year and it will be fully ready for integration in one year's time. ''We are also looking to develop a marine version of Kaveri engine and Indian Navy would be our working partners. This includes financial participation. Indian Navy is working with us for Kaveri marine project,'' he said.

The naval version would be co-designed by the two organisations and it would have low-pressure compressor and turbine.

GTRE was also looking at developing small gas turbine engines for unmanned aircraft.

''We are ready to develop any type of gas turbine engines for the country. There are lots of other projects in the offing,'' Mr Rao added.

He said GTRE's bid to find a joint venture partner was yet to be finalised as it was expecting the final sanction from the government. ''We had shortlisted 'Snecma' of France for the JV, but we have not started the work yet as some government approvals are still pending. Indian Air Force and DRDO would have to approve the JV,'' he said.

Mangalorean.Com- Serving Mangaloreans Around The World!

 

[indiatech]

It was announced in November 2008 that the Kaveri engine will be installed on LCA by December 2009 for testing.

First GTRE should publish the results of the recent testing of Kaveri with IL76 as one of its engines. There is no news about the same yet.

Lets hope this time it is a promise seeing the sudden confidence .

 

[wangrong]

It was announced in November 2008 that the Kaveri engine will be installed on LCA by December 2009 for testing.

First GTRE should publish the results of the recent testing of Kaveri with IL76 as one of its engines. There is no news about the same yet.

Lets hope this time it is a promise seeing the sudden confidence .

like this pic?

YL76 testing WS-10

 

[Goodperson]

like this pic?

YL76 testing WS-10

Please start another thread.