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GS Paper: Indigenization Of Technology

  • What is Positive Indigenisation List (PIL)?

    In line with the effort to promote self-reliance in defence manufacturing, the Defence Minister has approved the third Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) of 780 strategically important line replacement units (LRU).

    What is a Positive Indigenisation List (PIL)?

    • The positive indigenisation list essentially means that the Armed Forces—Army, Navy, and Air Force—will only procure the listed items from domestic manufacturers.
    • The manufacturers could be private sector players or Defense Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).
    • This concept was rolled out in the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

    Why in news?

    • This third list is different from the three PILs announced for the armed forces.
    • This list is in continuation to the two PILs of LRUs, sub-systems, assemblies, sub-assemblies and components that were published in December 2021 and March 2022.
    • These lists contain 2,500 items which are already indigenised and 458 (351+107) items which will be indigenised within the given timelines.
    • Out of the 458 items, 167 items (163 from the first PIL, and four from the second PIL) have been indigenised, so far, it stated.

    Other steps taken by the Centre to boost defence production

    • Licensing relaxation: Measures announced to boost exports since 2014 include simplified defence industrial licensing, relaxation of export controls and grant of no-objection certificates.
    • Lines of Credit: Specific incentives were introduced under the foreign trade policy and the Ministry of External Affairs has facilitated Lines of Credit for countries to import defence product.
    • Policy boost: The Defence Ministry has also issued a draft Defence Production & Export Promotion Policy 2020.
    • Budgetary allocation: In addition, a percentage of the capital outlay of the defence budget has been reserved for procurement from domestic industry.
    • Defence Industrial Corridors: The government has also announced 2 dedicated Corridors in the States of TN and UP to act as clusters of defence manufacturing that leverage existing infrastructure, and human capital.
    • Long-term vision: The vision of the government is to achieve a turnover of $25 bn including export of $5 bn in Aerospace and Defence goods and services by 2025.
    • Push for self-reliance: The govt has identified the Defence and Aerospace sector as a focus area for the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ or Self-Reliant India initiative.

    Issues retarding defence indigenization

    • Excess reliance on Public Sector: India has four companies (Indian ordnance factories, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)) among the top 100 biggest arms producers of the world.
    • Policy delays: In the past few years, the government has approved over 200 defence acquisition worth Rs 4 trillion, but most are still in relatively early stages of processing.
    • Lack of Critical Technologies: Poor design capability in critical technologies, inadequate investment in R&D and the inability to manufacture major subsystems and components hamper the indigenous manufacturing.
    • Long gestation: The creation of a manufacturing base is capital and technology-intensive and has a long gestation period. By that time newer technologies make products outdated.
    • ‘Unease’ in doing business: An issue related to stringent labour laws, compliance burden and lack of skills, affects the development of indigenous manufacturing in defence.
    • Multiple jurisdictions: Overlapping jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Industrial Promotion impair India’s capability of defence manufacturing.
    • Lack of quality: The higher indigenization in few cases is largely attributed to the low-end technology.
    • FDI Policy: The earlier FDI limit of 49% was not enough to enthuse global manufacturing houses to set up bases in India.
    • R&D Lacunae: A lip service to technology funding by making token allocations is an adequate commentary on our lack of seriousness in the area of Research and Development.
    • Lack of skills: There is a lack of engineering and research capability in our institutions. It again leads us back to the need for a stronger industry-academia interface.

    Way forward

    • Reducing import dependence: India was the world’s second-largest arms importer from 2014-18, ceding the long-held tag as the largest importer to Saudi Arabia, says 2019 SIPRI report.
    • Security Imperative: Indigenization in defence is critical to national security also. It keeps intact the technological expertise and encourages spin-off technologies and innovation that often stem from it.
    • Economic boost: Indigenization in defence can help create a large industry which also includes small manufacturers.
    • Employment generation: Defence manufacturing will lead to the generation of satellite industries that in turn will pave the way for a generation of employment opportunities.

     

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  • INS Vikrant: All about India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier

    The nation’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) , INS Vikrant is set to be commissioned on September 2, the Indian Navy has announced.

    About INS Vikrant

    • The name ‘INS Vikrant’ originally belonged to India’s much-loved first aircraft carrier, a source of immense national pride over several decades of service before it was decommissioned in 1997.
    • The original ‘Vikrant’, a Majestic-class 19,500-tonne warship, which was acquired from the UK in 1961, played a stellar role in the 1971 War with Pakistan.
    • The IAC-1 is 262 m long and 62 m wide ‘Vikrant’ displaces approximately 43,000 tonnes when fully loaded, and has a maximum designed speed of 28 knots (about 52 km/h) with an endurance of 7500 NM.
    • It has around 2,200 compartments designed for a crew of around 1,600, including specialised cabins to accommodate women officers and sailors.

    Why is it important for India to have an aircraft carrier?

    • An aircraft carrier is one of the most potent marine assets for any nation.
    • It enhances a Navy’s capability to travel far from its home shores to carry out air domination operations.
    • Having an aircraft carrier as essential to be considered a “blue water” navy — that is, a navy that has the capacity to project a nation’s strength and power across the high seas.
    • An aircraft carrier generally leads as the capital ship of a carrier strike/ battle group.

    Why is it a big deal that this warship has been Made in India?

    • Only five or six nations currently have the capability of manufacturing an aircraft carrier, and India has joined this prestigious club now.
    • India has demonstrated the capacity and self-reliance to build what is considered to be one of the most advanced and complex battleships in the world.
    • India has had aircraft carriers earlier too — but those were built either by the British or the Russians.
    • The ‘INS Vikramaditya’, which was commissioned in 2013 and which is currently the Navy’s only aircraft carrier, started out as the Soviet-Russian warship ‘Admiral Gorshkov’.
    • India’s two earlier carriers, the ‘INS Vikrant’ and the ‘INS Viraat’, were originally the British-built ‘HMS Hercules’ and ‘HMS Hermes’.
    • These two warships were commissioned into the Navy in 1961 and 1987 respectively.

    What indigenous components does the new ‘Vikrant’ have?

    • The indigenous content of the project is approximately 76%.
    • The warship-grade steel was indigenised through Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) in collaboration with Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL).
    • It includes 23,000 tonnes of steel, 2,500 km of electric cables, 150 km of pipes, and 2,000 valves.
    • It also includes a wide range of finished products including rigid hull boats, galley equipment, air-conditioning and refrigeration plants, and steering gear.

    What weapons and equipment will the new ‘Vikrant’ have?

    • The new warship can carry up to 34 aircraft, including both fighter jets and helicopters.
    • It will be capable of operating 30 aircraft including MiG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31 Air Early Warning Helicopters, MH-60R Seahawk multi-role helicopters, as well as the Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH).
    • Using a novel aircraft-operation mode known as Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR), the IAC is equipped with a ski-jump for launching aircraft.

    What else will be there on the new INS Vikrant?

    • The carrier is designed with a very high degree of automation for machinery operations, ship navigation and survivability.
    • The carrier is equipped with the latest state of the art equipment and systems.
    • It boasts a fully-fledged state of the art medical complex with the latest medical equipment facilities..

    Now that India has shown the capability, will it build more carriers?

    • Since 2015, the Navy has been seeking approval to build a third aircraft carrier for the country, which, if approved, will become India’s second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-2).
    • This proposed carrier, to be named ‘INS Vishal’, is intended to be a giant 65,000-tonne vessel, much bigger than both IAC-1 and the ‘INS Vikramaditya’.
    • The Navy has been trying to convince the government of the “operational necessity” of having a third carrier.
    • Also, it is argued that now that India has developed the capability to build such vessels, it should not be whittled away.
    • The expertise gained by the Navy and the country over the past 60 years in the art of maritime aviation should not be wasted either.

    Significance of the induction

    • Vikrant is the largest warship to have ever been built in India, and the first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.
    • It puts India in an elite club of nations that have the capability to design and build these giant, powerful warships.
    • The indigenisation efforts led to the development of ancillary industries, and generated employment opportunities for 2,000 CSL personnel and about 13,000 employees in ancillary industries.
    • This bolstered plough-back effect on the nation’s economy. That is, it pushed all money back that it consumed.

     

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  • Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VL-SRSAM)

    The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy has successfully flight-tested the indigenously developed Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

    What is Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VLSRSAM) ?

    • VL-SRSAM has been designed and developed jointly by three facilities of the DRDO for deployment of Indian Naval warships.
    • The missile has the capability of neutralising various aerial threats at close ranges including sea-skimming targets.
    • The tactic of sea skimming is used by various anti-ship missiles and some fighter jets to avoid being detected by the radars onboard warships.
    • For this, these assets fly as close as possible to sea surface and thus are difficult to detect and neutralise.

    Features of VL-SRSAM

    • The missile has been designed to strike at the high-speed airborne targets at the range of 40 to 50 km and at an altitude of around 15 km.
    • Its design is based on Astra missile which is a Beyond Visual Range Air to Air missile.
    • Two key features of the VL-SRSAM are cruciform wings and thrust vectoring.
    • The cruciform wings are four small wings arranged like a cross on four sides and give the projective a stable aerodynamic posture.
    • The thrust vectoring is an ability to change the direction of the thrust from its engine control the angular velocity and the attitude of the missile.
    • VL-SRSAM is a canisterised system, which means it is stored and operated from specially designed compartments.
    • In the canister, the inside environment is controlled, thus making its transport and storage easier and improving the shelf life of weapons

    Strategic significance of the missile

    • The launch was conducted from a vertical launcher against an electronic target at a very low altitude.
    • The flight path of the vehicle along with health parameters was monitored using a number of tracking instruments deployed by ITR, Chandipur.
    • The successful testing of these systems was crucial for future launches of the missile from Indian Naval Ships.

     

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  • India’s Defence Exports have grown up 7x: PM

    Our defence exports have increased seven times in the last eight years, informed the Prime Minister. We had achieved defence exports worth ₹13,000 crore and of this 70% was from the private sector.

    Why in news?

    • The Indian Defence sector, the second largest armed force is at the cusp of revolution.

    India’s Defence Exports

    • India has put out a range of military hardware on sale which includes various missile systems, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), helicopters, warship and patrol vessels, artillery guns, tanks, radars etc.
    • From 2016-17 to 2018-19, the country’s defence exports have increased from ₹1,521 crore to ₹10,745 crore, a staggering 700% growth.

    Steps taken by the Centre to boost defence production

    • Licensing relaxation: Measures announced to boost exports since 2014 include simplified defence industrial licensing, relaxation of export controls and grant of no-objection certificates.
    • Lines of Credit: Specific incentives were introduced under the foreign trade policy and the Ministry of External Affairs has facilitated Lines of Credit for countries to import defence product.
    • Policy boost: The Defence Ministry has also issued a draft Defence Production & Export Promotion Policy 2020.
    • Indigenization lists: On the domestic front, to boost indigenous manufacturing, the Government had issued two “positive indigenization lists” consisting of 209 items that cannot be imported.
    • Budgetary allocation: In addition, a percentage of the capital outlay of the defence budget has been reserved for procurement from domestic industry.
    • Defence Industrial Corridors: The government has also announced 2 dedicated Corridors in the States of TN and UP to act as clusters of defence manufacturing that leverage existing infrastructure, and human capital.
    • Long-term vision: The vision of the government is to achieve a turnover of $25 bn including export of $5 bn in Aerospace and Defence goods and services by 2025.
    • Push for self-reliance: The govt has identified the Defence and Aerospace sector as a focus area for the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ or Self-Reliant India initiative.

    Issues retarding defence exports

    • Excess reliance on Public Sector: India has four companies (Indian ordnance factories, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)) among the top 100 biggest arms producers of the world.
    • Policy delays: In the past few years, the government has approved over 200 defence acquisition worth Rs 4 trillion, but most are still in relatively early stages of processing.
    • Lack of Critical Technologies: Poor design capability in critical technologies, inadequate investment in R&D and the inability to manufacture major subsystems and components hamper the indigenous manufacturing.
    • Long gestation: The creation of a manufacturing base is capital and technology-intensive and has a long gestation period. By that time newer technologies make products outdated.
    • ‘Unease’ in doing business: An issue related to stringent labour laws, compliance burden and lack of skills, affects the development of indigenous manufacturing in defence.
    • Multiple jurisdictions: Overlapping jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Industrial Promotion impair India’s capability of defence manufacturing.
    • Lack of quality: The higher indigenization in few cases is largely attributed to the low-end technology.
    • FDI Policy: The earlier FDI limit of 49% was not enough to enthuse global manufacturing houses to set up bases in India.
    • R&D Lacunae: A lip service to technology funding by making token allocations is an adequate commentary on our lack of seriousness in the area of Research and Development.
    • Lack of skills: There is a lack of engineering and research capability in our institutions. It again leads us back to the need for a stronger industry-academia interface.

    Way forward

    • Reducing import dependence: India was the world’s second-largest arms importer from 2014-18, ceding the long-held tag as the largest importer to Saudi Arabia, says 2019 SIPRI report.
    • Security Imperative: Indigenization in defence is critical to national security also. It keeps intact the technological expertise and encourages spin-off technologies and innovation that often stem from it.
    • Economic boost: Indigenization in defence can help create a large industry which also includes small manufacturers.
    • Employment generation: Defence manufacturing will lead to the generation of satellite industries that in turn will pave the way for a generation of employment opportunities.

     

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  • DRDO tests Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator

    The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully carried out the maiden test flight of a new Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), an autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator, from the Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, Karnataka.

    About the Indigenous Drone

    • The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is powered by a small turbofan engine.
    • It is developed under unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) programme.
    • It is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru, a premier research laboratory of DRDO.
    • The engine is Russian TRDD-50MT originally designed for cruise missiles.
    • A small turbo fan engine is being developed indigenously for meeting the requirement.

    Various initiatives by DRDO

    • DRDO is in the process of developing UAVs of different classes to met the requirements of the armed forces.
    • Rustom-2, the indigenous Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV under development, had crossed a milestone by reaching an altitude of 25,000 feet and an endurance of 10 hours.
    • It is now being designed to reach an altitude of 30,000 feet and 18 hours endurance.
    • An Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle is also on the drawing board.

    Significance of the development

    • Operating in a fully autonomous mode, the aircraft exhibited a perfect flight, including take-off, way point navigation and a smooth touchdown.
    • This flight marks a major milestone in terms of proving critical technologies towards the development of future unmanned aircraft.
    • This is a significant step towards self-reliance in strategic defence technologies.

     

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  • [pib] BIS develops an Standard for ‘Non-electric Cooling Cabinet made of Clay’

    Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India, has developed an Indian Standard, IS 17693: 2022 for ‘non-electric cooling cabinet made of clay’.

    IS 17693: 2022

    • BIS standard specifies the construction and performance requirements of a cooling cabinet made out of clay, which operates on the principle of evaporative cooling.
    • These cabinets may be used to store perishable foodstuff without the need of electricity.
    • This standard helps BIS in fulfilling 6 out of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like No poverty, Zero hunger, Gender equality, Affordable and clean energy, Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, and Responsible consumption and production.

    Why such move?

    • Named as ‘Mitticool refrigerator’, Mansukh Bhai Prajapati from Gujarat is the innovator behind the refrigerator which projects an eco-friendly technology.
    • It is a natural refrigerator made primarily from clay to store vegetables, fruits, milk, and also for cooling water.
    • It provides natural coolness to foodstuffs stored in it without requiring any electricity.
    • Fruits, vegetables, and milk can be stored reasonably fresh without deteriorating their quality.

    Back2Basics: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

    • BIS is the National Standards Body of India working under the aegis of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
    • It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986.
    • The organization was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), set up under the Resolution of the Department of Industries and Supplies in September 1946.
    • The ISI was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
    • A new Bureau of Indian standard (BIS) Act 2016 has been brought into force with effect from 12 October 2017.
    • The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India.

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  • 21 Years of BrahMos Missile

    On June 12, 2001 the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was first tested from a land-based launcher in Chandipur.

    What is BrahMos Missile System?

    • BrahMos is a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya.
    • The missile derives its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers.
    • Beginning with an anti-ship missile, several variants have since been developed.
    • It is now capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface and sea-based targets and has constantly been improved and upgraded.

    Its capabilities

    • BrahMos is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine.
    • Its first stage brings the missile to supersonic speed and then gets separated.
    • The liquid ramjet or the second stage then takes the missile closer to three times the speed of sound in cruise phase.
    • The missile has a very low radar signature, making it stealthy, and can achieve a variety of trajectories.
    • The ‘fire and forget’ type missile can achieve a cruising altitude of 15 km and a terminal altitude as low as 10 m to hit the target.

    Background and development

    • The early 1980s the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme was conceived and led by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
    • It started developing a range of missiles including Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag, with a wide spectrum of capabilities and ranges.
    • In the early 1990s, India’s strategic leadership felt the need for cruise and guided missiles.
    • The need was felt primarily following the use of cruise missiles in the Gulf War.
    • An Agreement was signed with Russia in Moscow in 1998 by Dr Kalam, who headed the DRDO.
    • This led to the formation of BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between DRDO and NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM), the Indian side holding 50.5% and the Russians 49.5%.

    Tests and induction

    • In 1999, work on development of missiles began in labs of DRDO and NPOM after BrahMos Aerospace received funds from the two governments.
    • The first successful test in 2001 was conducted from a specially designed land-based launcher.
    • The missile system has since reached some key milestones, with the first major export order of $375 million received from the Philippines Navy this year.

    Strategic significance

    • Cruise missiles such as BrahMos, called “standoff range weapons”, are fired from a range far enough to allow the attacker to evade defensive counter-fire.
    • What makes the missile system unparalleled is its extreme accuracy and versatility.
    • With missiles made available for export, the platform is also seen as a key asset in defence diplomacy.

    Variants of Brahmos

    • Versions currently being tested include ranges up to 350 km, as compared to the original’s 290 km.
    • Versions with even higher ranges, up to 800 km, and with hypersonic speed are said to be on cards.
    • Efforts are also on to reduce the size and signature of existing versions and augment its capabilities further.
    • Versions deployed in all three Armed forces are still being tested regularly, and so are versions currently under development.
    1. LAND-BASED: The land-based BrahMos complex has four to six mobile autonomous launchers, each with three missiles on board that can be fired almost simultaneously. They are described as ‘tidy’ as they have very few components.
    2. SHIP-BASED: The Navy began inducting BrahMos on its frontline warships from 2005. These can hit sea-based targets beyond the radar horizon. The Naval version has been successful in sea-to-sea and sea-to-land modes.
    3. AIR-LAUNCHED: On November 22, 2017, BrahMos was successfully flight-tested for the first time from a Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal. It has since been successfully tested multiple times.
    4. SUBMARINE-LAUNCHED: This version can be launched from around 50 m below the water surface. The canister-stored missile is launched vertically from the pressure hull of the submarine and uses different settings for underwater and out-of-the-water flights.

     

     

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  • Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) passes validation trials

    The indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully completed the validation trials.

    Why in news?

    • The ATAGS has demonstrated a range of over 45 km, making it the “most consistent and accurate gun in the world”.

    ATAG System

    • The ATAGS is a 155-mm, 52-calibre artillery gun jointly developed by the DRDO in partnership with Bharat Forge of the Kalyani Group and the Tata Power SED.
    • ATAGS has greater than 95% of indigenous content. It set a world record for the longest unassisted projectile range of 48 kilometres.

    Its features

    • The gun consists of a barrel, breech mechanism, muzzle brake and recoil mechanism to fire 155 mm calibre ammunition with a firing range of 48 km.
    • It has an all-electric drive to ensure reliability and minimum maintenance over a long period of time.
    • It has advanced features like high mobility, quick deployability, auxiliary power mode, advanced communication system, automatic command and control system with night capability in direct fire mode.

     

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  • INS Vagsheer: Key features, capabilities

    The sixth and last of the French Scorpene-class submarines, INS Vagsheer, was launched into water at the Mazagon Docks in Mumbai.

    Launch of INS Vagsheer

    • It was launched by Veena Ajay Kumar (wife of Union Defence Secretary), in keeping with the naval tradition of launch and naming by a woman.
    • The six submarines were being built under Project-75 by the Mazagon Docks under technology transfer from the Naval Group as part of a $3.75-billion deal signed in October 2005:
    1. INS Kalvari was commissioned in December 2017;
    2. INS Khanderi in September 2019;
    3. INS Vagir in November 2020;
    4. INS Karanj in March 2021; and
    5. INS Vela in November 2021.
    • P 75 is one of two lines of submarines, the other being P75I, as part of a plan approved in 1999 for indigenous submarine construction with technology taken from overseas firms.

    Why ‘Vagsheer’

    • Vagsheer is named after the sand fish, a deep sea predator of the Indian Ocean.
    • The first submarine Vagsheer, from Russia, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 26, 1974, and was decommissioned on April 30, 1997.
    • The new Vagsheer will be officially named at the time of its commissioning.

    Specifications

    • Vagsheer can take up to eight officers and 35 men.
    • It is 67.5 metres long and 12.3 metres high, with a beam measuring 6.2 metres Vagsheer can reach top speed of 20 knots when submerged and a top speed of 11 knots when it surfaces
    • It has four MTU 12V 396 SE84 diesel engines, 360 battery cells for power, and a silent Permanently Magnetised Propulsion Motor.
    • The hull, fin and hydroplanes are designed for minimum underwater resistance and all equipment inside the pressure hull is mounted on shock-absorbing cradles for enhanced stealth.

    Features

    • Vagsheer is a diesel attack submarine, designed to perform sea denial as well as access denial warfare against the adversary.
    • It can do offensive operations across the spectrum of naval warfare including anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying and area surveillance.
    • It is enabled with a C303 anti-torpedo counter measure system.
    • It can carry up to 18 torpedoes or Exocet anti-ship missiles, or 30 mines in place of torpedoes.
    • Its superior stealth features include advanced acoustic absorption techniques, low radiated noise levels, hydro-dynamically optimised shape.
    • It has the ability to launch a crippling attack using precision guided weapons, underwater or on surface.

    Road ahead

    • Vagsheer will be commissioned into the Indian Navy’s Western Command after 12 to 18 months when sea trials end.
    • It will be based with Western Naval Command, mostly in Mumbai.
    • The submarine will undergo a very comprehensive and rigorous set of tests and trials, for more than a year, to ensure delivery of a fully combat worthy submarine.

    Back2Basics: Various classes of Submarines in India

    In maritime terms, a class of ships is a group of vessels that have the same make, purpose and displacement.

    • Chakra Class: Under a 10-year lease from Russia since 2012
    • Arihant Class: Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines
    • Shishumar Class: Diesel-electric attack submarines Indian variant of the Type 209 submarines developed by the German Navy
    • Kalvari Class: Diesel-electric attack submarines designed by French company DCNS
    • Sindhughosh Class: Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines built with the help of Russia
    • Scorpene-Class: French submarines that can undertake various types of missions such as anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying, area surveillance etc.

     

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  • GSLV-F10

    The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with improvements added to its cryogenic upper stage (CUS) is expected to be ready in the second half of this year.

    What is GSLV?

    • GSLV is an expendable space launch vehicle designed, developed, and operated by the ISRO to launch satellites and other space objects into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits.
    • GSLV is 49.13 m tall and tallest among all other vehicles of ISRO.
    • It is a three-stage vehicle with a lift-off mass of 420 tonnes.
    • ISRO first launched GSLV on April 18, 2001 and has made 13 launches since then.

    Stages in GSLV

    • The first stage comprises S139 solid booster with 138-tonne propellant and four liquid strap-on motors, with 40-tonne propellant.
    • The second stage is a liquid engine carrying 40-tonne of liquid propellant.
    • The third stage is the indigenously built Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) carrying 15-tonne of cryogenic propellants.

    Variants in GSLV

    • GSLV rockets using the Russian Cryogenic Stage (CS) are designated as the GSLV Mk I while versions using the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) are designated the GSLV Mk II.
    • All GSLV launches have been conducted from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

    Difference between PSLV and GSLV

    • GSLV has the capability to put a heavier payload in the orbit than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
    • PSLV can carry satellites up to a total weight of 2000 kg into space and reach up to an altitude of 600-900 km.
    • GSLV can carry weight up to 5,000 kg and reach up to 36,000 km.
    • PSLV is designed mainly to deliver earth observation or remote sensing satellites, whereas, GSLV has been designed for launching communication satellites.
    • GSLV delivers satellites into a higher elliptical orbit, Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).

    Back2Basics: ISRO’s transportation modules

    (1) SLV

    • In the space transportation domain, the commissioning of the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3) project in the early 1970s was the first indigenous experimental satellite launch vehicle.
    • As a four stage, all solid, launch vehicle, SLV-3 had its successful launch in July 1980, thrusting India into the select league of six countries with the capability to launch satellites on their own.
    • The ASLV- Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle project, in the early 1980s, was the next step of evolution in launch vehicle technology.

    (2) PSLV

    • In mid 80s came the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project. PSLV was successfully launched in 1994.
    • The vehicle has proven to be a workhorse of ISRO, logging over 50 successful missions, launching national as well as foreign satellites.
    • On 15 February 2017, PSLV created a world record by successfully placing 104 satellites.
    • The nation embarked upon a highly challenging quest to master the complex cryogenic technology.

    (3) GSLV

    Discussed above.

    (4) SSLV

    • The Small Satellites Launching Vehicles (SSLVs) used for commercial launching of small satellites is under incubation.
    • It is a small-lift launch vehicle being developed by the ISRO with payload capacity to deliver:
    1. 600 kg to Low Earth Orbit (500 km) or
    2. 300 kg to Sun-synchronous Orbit (500 km)
    • It would help launching small satellites, with the capability to support multiple orbital drop-offs.
    • In future a dedicated launch pad in Sriharikota called Small Satellite Launch Complex (SSLC) will be set up.

     

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