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PUNE: The Research and Development Establishment (R&DE) at Dighi near Pune is working on a prestigious project to develop the country's first indigenously made glass fibre composite sonar domes for Indian navy's 15 Alpha class warships.
Sonar domes, which are located on the hulls of submarines and surface ships, are a key component that house electronic equipment used for detection, navigation, and ranging. They are particularly useful in anti-submarine warfare.
So far, India has been importing sonar domes from Germany. Very few countries across the world have the expertise to manufacture this key component.
"The first of the two indigenously developed sonar domes will be rolled out for trials in October 2012," R&DE's director S Guruprasad said at a media briefing on the sidelines of a national conference on composites on Friday.
"Once the efficacy of the indigenous sonar dome technology is established, we can go for the numbers to scale up production for use on Indian warships," he said. "The navy has made a requirement for such indigenously developed technology," he added.
The project not only promises to put India among the select band of countries with expertise to develop sonar domes, but is also expected to go a long way in reducing costs on account of imports.
As Makarand Joshi, scientist with R&DE's composites research centre (CRC), said, "Barely a few companies in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States are into supplying sonar domes. By virtue of their monopoly, these firms are in a position to dictate costs, which vary from the class and make of ships/submarines."
According to Guruprasad, "There is lot of potential for use of glass fibre composites in naval ships. The sonar dome we are working on will have all the acoustic properties essential for recording data and communicating to the ship on key functions like detection and navigation, among others." Apart from naval ships, the composites, which refer to man-made materials engineered from two or more constituent materials with different physical and chemical properties, have a great potential in army vehicles such as the armoured combat vehicle, he added.
"We are developing a composite hull for armoured combat vehicle, which will be ready for show next year. Cost-wise, the composite armoured vehicle may be expensive compared to vehicles with steel chassis, but performance-wise, the advantages will be in multiples," he added.
"The composite hull combat vehicles will not only offer the same protection that is provided by conventional steel chassis vehicles, but will be 30% less, which means greater convenience for movement. These vehicles will have better maneuverability in terms of amphibious and land operations and no infra-red or radio-frequency signatures vis-a-vis detection by enemy," said Guruprasad.
The R&DE is further developing a 26-metre mobile bridge, made of composite structure, for movement of army's main battle tank. "This project will be ready next year," Guruprasad said, and pointed out, "The R&DE has already developed 5 and 10-metre mobile bridges for applications by the army and the same are undergoing trials."
R&DE to develop sonar domes for naval warships - The Times of India
Sonar domes, which are located on the hulls of submarines and surface ships, are a key component that house electronic equipment used for detection, navigation, and ranging. They are particularly useful in anti-submarine warfare.
So far, India has been importing sonar domes from Germany. Very few countries across the world have the expertise to manufacture this key component.
"The first of the two indigenously developed sonar domes will be rolled out for trials in October 2012," R&DE's director S Guruprasad said at a media briefing on the sidelines of a national conference on composites on Friday.
"Once the efficacy of the indigenous sonar dome technology is established, we can go for the numbers to scale up production for use on Indian warships," he said. "The navy has made a requirement for such indigenously developed technology," he added.
The project not only promises to put India among the select band of countries with expertise to develop sonar domes, but is also expected to go a long way in reducing costs on account of imports.
As Makarand Joshi, scientist with R&DE's composites research centre (CRC), said, "Barely a few companies in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States are into supplying sonar domes. By virtue of their monopoly, these firms are in a position to dictate costs, which vary from the class and make of ships/submarines."
According to Guruprasad, "There is lot of potential for use of glass fibre composites in naval ships. The sonar dome we are working on will have all the acoustic properties essential for recording data and communicating to the ship on key functions like detection and navigation, among others." Apart from naval ships, the composites, which refer to man-made materials engineered from two or more constituent materials with different physical and chemical properties, have a great potential in army vehicles such as the armoured combat vehicle, he added.
"We are developing a composite hull for armoured combat vehicle, which will be ready for show next year. Cost-wise, the composite armoured vehicle may be expensive compared to vehicles with steel chassis, but performance-wise, the advantages will be in multiples," he added.
"The composite hull combat vehicles will not only offer the same protection that is provided by conventional steel chassis vehicles, but will be 30% less, which means greater convenience for movement. These vehicles will have better maneuverability in terms of amphibious and land operations and no infra-red or radio-frequency signatures vis-a-vis detection by enemy," said Guruprasad.
The R&DE is further developing a 26-metre mobile bridge, made of composite structure, for movement of army's main battle tank. "This project will be ready next year," Guruprasad said, and pointed out, "The R&DE has already developed 5 and 10-metre mobile bridges for applications by the army and the same are undergoing trials."
R&DE to develop sonar domes for naval warships - The Times of India
