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DRDO should focus on areas where it has capacity to deliver: Manmohan

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DRDO should focus on areas where it has capacity to deliver: Manmohan
TNN Aug 1, 2012, 02.00AM IST

NEW DELHI: With India still importing well over 60% of its military hardware and software, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday asked DRDO to concentrate on key strategic and military technology areas to ensure weapon systems are developed without huge time and cost overruns.

In the backdrop of crucial projects like the Tejas light combat aircraft running way behind schedule, the PM said, “The share of the indigenous content in defence procurement continues to be low. We need to take a hard look at the pipeline of our projects and focus our time and material resources on selected areas where we have demonstrated capacity to deliver projects within reasonable time and cost.”
Holding there was “a net deterioration in international strategic and security environment”, “political uncertainties in our neighbourhood”, turmoil in West Asia and ever-growing terrorism and cyber threats, the PM said the armed forces would be provided the “wherewithal” to secure “our frontiers”.

This will, in the long term, help India to build a robust domestic defence industrial base, in both the public and private sectors, to compete with global players in developing state-of-the-art technologies.

“We need to give the industry a boost and quicken the pace of development. The role of DRDO is this is truly critical, given that there are 800 enterprises supporting its projects and programmes,” he said.

Readers’ opinions (15)

sd (delhi) 27 days ago
first of all manmohan singh should look for indian industry which is shutting down day by day . indian industries keep on labeling chinese products due to low pricing in china & poor facilities given to industrialist like electricity etc. number of forms are there to fill at the time of dispatches, waste of time & paper. they should implement gst to get rid of various taxes

ADM (Bangalore)3 Followers 27 days ago Silver: 1463323
DRDO is a public sector failure and MMS is a public elect failure……

Baba (Delhi) 27 days ago
Bio-toilets of DRDO is only required for using in extreme cold areas where temperature is sub-zero and some what beneficial in trains…… but in plains in normal temperatures in villages it works just like any normal toilet with under ground septic tank… only difference is they use more costly metal septic tank …. and even they add some bacteria in to the tanks…. it is essential as faecal matter degradation occurs naturally…….. It is only helpful earning of crores of rupies for DRDO ToT holders and gain some media hype for DRDO people by fooling the rural development minister. with the cost of one so called Bio-toilet 4 toilets can me constructed in villages that too with using local available resources and emplying local unemplyed people. Using fasionable words”Bio-Toilets” they r fooling common man of the country… and the ministers as well…….

Pram (Mumbai) 28 days ago
In which area MMS has capacity to deliver?

Sopan Thengadi (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) 5 Followers 28 days ago Silver: 3566434
The ‘delivery capacity’ of DRDO and other PSUs are well known. Tejas, Mig 21, LCH projecet, MBT Arjun, Air India – the list of underperformers is unending !!!
sinha.asok (Patna) 57 Followers 28 days ago Gold: 5587432
In a country all limelight is hogged by the politicians and bureaucrats and scientists are not even recognised for their contributions, it is too much to expect much from them. MMS should, first of all, start delivering on the social and economic fronts to prepare a conducive environment to face deteriorating security situation on the international stage.

pk (delhi) 28 days ago
Manmohan singh better focus on some economic strategies for country, rather than blaming DRDO

pr (bengaluru) 28 days ago
Once upon a time a cat mewed and dozed off again when the entire country plunged into darkness

Sudhir (IND) 57 Followers 28 days ago Gold: 10.5K542
Manmohan Singh is the most corrupt PM, Hindustan as ever seen. He as given Secular Congress members licences to loot the public.

hihari (Canada) 21 Followers 28 days ago Silver: 4534432
Sach bola MMS. DRDO has been putting its foot everywhere to have budget worth billions of dollars, but has delivered not even 50% of major projects! MMS bolts sach hai par karta kuch nahi hai, kya Karen iska!

Kartun Mhd with bomb (Kangress hate camp) 28 days ago Gold: 5022441
Manmohan should relax, because he does not have capacity to focus anywhere, except on Sonia’s instructions.

Air Cmde Raghubir Singh(Retd) (Pune) 28 days ago
Yes of course ideally DRDO should be concentrating on key military technologies to deliver without time & cost over runs-but how? If we have lagged behind in Tejas, option is not to get out of the aircraft development & concentrate on say making guns –we have to catch up with aviation technology too. Developing appropriate technologies should be national mission. For example we have been manufacturing MiG’s in our Hindustan Aeronautics for the last 50 years or so. Has the joint program between Russia & India lead us to any worthwhile aviation technology which could have been useful in our LCA or was it merely CKD’s riveted and nut-bolted in our complexes here –the Tatra way all the time? MoD must take a hard look of technology content in such joint ventures & also cost of locally assembled aircraft being comparable to the fly away imports. Now that DRDO has achieved breakthrough and much needed successes in quick successions in missiles & other areas, it must continue the dream run by change of leadership in labs which have been lagging behind. It may even think of getting service officers on deputation to man critical programs

Suraj Vanch (Wlltn) 28 days ago
the poodle barks

Dom pereira (Florida) 28 days ago
until and unless India allows the private sector to take part in defense manufacture in a big way India will never be able to be self sufficient in defense production. Private companies have the capacity to follow strict time frame which is very crucial to bring the cost down. In the U.S private firms run most defense companies and the results are for all to see.

dasg (ny) 28 days ago
PM Singh also ask this question to himself, has he capacity to deliver on much needed economic reforms on coal, power, labour and much else. It is easy to point to failures by others. He has failed miserably and hapless public is paying a heavy price for his incompetence in building consensus and pushing through much need economic reforms

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Prithvi II tested successfully

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TNN | Aug 26, 2012, 01.07AM IST

HYDERABAD: The 350-km range surface-to-surface Prithvi II missile was successfully flight tested at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Balasore district in Odisha on Saturday giving the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) the Prithvi power.

“It was a text-book launch with very high accuracy. With this test launch, we can say that the SFC has demonstrated its expertise in firing the missile,” DRDO director general and scientific advisor to defence minister, V K Saraswat, told STOIon phone from Balasore.

Saraswat said the missile had an accuracy of better than 10 metersand this showed the standard of the missile. The single stage liquid propelled vehicle developed by DRDO was inducted into the armed forces and one of the missiles drawn from the inventory of the armed forces was test-fired by the SFC on Saturday. The vehicle is guided all through by an accurate Inertial Navigation System (INS) and controlled by the Thrust Vector Control and Aero-Dynamic Control Systems.

The missile developed by DRDO was flight tested from Launch Complex III by the SFC as part of its training exercise. The indigenous missile hit the target in the Bay of Bengal which was witnessed by a naval shiplocated near the target.

According to DRDO officials, all the radars, electro optical systems located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters of the missile throughout the flight path. The entire launch operation was carried out by the armed forces and monitored by scientists of DRDO.

Prithvi II has been successfully flight tested a number of times as part of development, induction and training exercises. Saturday’s launch, however, tested the Areliability of Prithvi and confirmed the successful induction into the services, a DRDO official said.

The team of armed forces and scientists were led by project director Siva Subramanyam and programme director Adalat Ali, director, DRDL, Hyderabad.

Drdo

DRDO’s Nag missile fails in user trials

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New Delhi: The long-delayed Nag anti-tank missile project of the DRDO has suffered yet another setback as its user trials held recently failed.

In the trials held in Rajasthan in presence of senior Lt Gen-rank officers from the Army and top DRDO officials, the modified carrier of the missile called NAMICA also under-performed, DRDO sources told a news agency here.

In the trials held at the Mahajan firing range, four Nag missiles were fired of which only one could hit the target whereas the remaining failed to do so due to glitches in the equipment on-board the weapon, they said.

Army officials present at the test-firings were not happy with the performance of the missile and have asked the defence research agency to come better prepared for the trials to be held in the future, they said.

The missile has been under development as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) initiated in early 1980s and is now expected to take few more years to reach the induction stage.

Sources said the carrier of the Nag missile called NAMICA — a modified Russian-origin BMP-II personnel carrier, also failed to satisfy the users in displaying its capabilities in water during the trials.

However, the NAMICA met the requirements of the user in terms of its cross-country capabilities, they said.

When contacted for his reaction, DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said the trials were a “partial success”.

“The Advanced Target Acquisition systems with both the Gunner and Commander have performed well,” he claimed.

The spokesperson said these trials have “brought out certain deviations in the engine performance of the NAMICA BMP-II and those were being assessed by the experts.”

So far, DRDO has carried out more than 50 test-launches of the missile since it started its development in the 80s.

The DRDO is also working on developing the helicopter-launched Nag missile called the HELINA and its trials are also expected to be held soon.

The Indian Army has been awaiting the induction of the Nag missile for a long time now. In absence of any indigenous system, it uses the French-origin Milan anti-tank missiles and is also in negotiations with the US for procuring a significant number of Javelin anti-tank guided missiles.

PTI

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DRDO spending crores, but no positive outcome

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http://bit.ly/TymtzY 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/drdo-spending-crores-but-no-positive-outcome/282007-3.html

Bhupendra Chaubey, CNN-IBN

New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development organisation, country’s premier body for development of defence related technology, has allegedly spent crores of rupees in the name of expenditure on technology, but there has been no positive outcome.
A top secret audit of DRDO ordered by Defence Minister AK Antony has revealed that there is virtual lack of transparency in decision making mechanism in the organisation, which was created to look after country’s defence needs. With a budget of over Rs 10,000 crore DRDO has enjoyed full mandate from successive governments for over six decades.
The audit accessed by CNN-IBN reveals that financial sanctions are being split so that they don’t have to go to higher authorities. Programme for development of main battle tank Arjun was sanctioned at Rs 69.99 crore. However, the entire programme was split into smaller sub-heads so that higher ups within the system could be avoided.
The fact that projects under DRDO have been delayed extensively is well known. Now the report also raises questions about how the DRDO is taking decisions.
Product support and product improvement of NAG weapon system was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 28.35 crore, despite the fact that the Cabinet Committee on Security approved similar programme was still in the pipeline.
The cost of UAV and aerostat was brought down just to ensure that no higher authority could question the financial approval given.
Several split sanctions were also issued for renovation of DRDO Bhawan while unauthorised sanction of Rs 49.15 crore to develop vehicle testing facility from public accounts mainly for civilian use was also granted.
The report further says that a project for development of satellite signal monitoring was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 29.96 crore without any formal requirement from the defence services. While the project was still on, a sanction of Rs 24.5 crore was given for procurement of a similar technology.
There have been several arbitrary costing of products under garb of development like sanction of Rs 14.5 crore for development of four stroke cylinder engine technology. But the parties chosen by the DRDO didn’t have adequate research capabilities. The report goes on to say that the DRDO has facilitated entry of foreign companies in certain areas and the projects being undertaken are not for development but for the entry of foreign vendors.
The report says that Dr VK Saraswat gave an improper approval for a grant of Rs 2.8 crore to a society which he heads himself. Further scrutiny even revealed that the body which got the aid didn’t have expert manpower.
Several irregularities have also been detected in appointment of chairpersons of different organisations with huge amounts being spent on it.
However, the defence minister has refused to react to these findings.
On the other hand the DRDO has refuted the allegations.
“DRDO strongly refutes observations made in the report and is in the process of compiling its responses despite the fact that the findings of audit already stand vitiated. Since laid down procedure was not followed and the report was issued without authorisation, the matter is under examination and correspondence with the concerned. All laid down procedures are being followed by DRDO in a transparent manner and interests of the State are the sole consideration during the process of decision making,” said DRDO Director Ravi Gupta.
Now through this report questions are being raised about how DRDO is taking decisions.

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Secret audit reveals DRDO irregularities

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Secret audit reveals DRDO irregularities

TNN Aug 14, 2012, 03.14AM IST

NEW DELHI: A confidential internal audit ordered by the defence ministry has found several financial and other irregularities in the functioning of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which has a network of 50 labs and an annual budget of over Rs 10,500 crore.

 

This comes a day after TOI reported that none of the main recommendations — first by the Rama Rao Committee in 2008 and then a watered-down version by a committee headed by the defence secretary in 2010 — has been implemented to revamp DRDO to ensure that advanced weapon systems are developed for the armed forces without huge time and cost overruns.

The fresh internal audit, conducted by the finance wing of the defence ministry, has raised serious questions about the lack of transparency in DRDO’s functioning, including the alleged sanctioning of Rs 2.80 crore by DRDO chief V K Saraswat to a mathematical society headed by him.

 

DRDO spokesman Ravi Gupta, on being contacted, said the issues raised in the report were “essentially in the nature of preliminary observations” and the audit itself was “vitiated by a faulty process”. “None of the points raised in the audit report stands scrutiny… We are giving a point-wise rebuttal to the baseless conclusions,” he said.

 

The audit report also pointed out that DRDO was splitting sanctions for its projects to avoid seeking approvals from “competent financial authorities”.

Readers comments

Polachan Vm (Egypt)

8 days ago

….if all the black money and the corrupt money is confiscated, we can buy USA three times. ..luckily our leaders and judges are thieves..wishing all poor Indians a very happy Independance day…  9249850342 ..former thief justice..

myalmightygod (India)

9 days ago

God bless india.

Raghubir Singh (Pune)

9 days ago

Internal audit is one of the healthy procedures to have financial checks and balances in place and every government department has such auditing as a matter of routine even in ops units in forward areas. There is nothing secret about it. As a first step there are preliminary observations-majority of which get settled after the explanations are given at working level showing relevant file/documents/authority etc. We can delve on two point’s including MBT Arjun being overweight which has also found mention in the preliminary observation. Best MBT’s of the world like US’s Abram, UK’s Challenger, Germany’s Leopard & Isarel’s Merkava having crew of four all weigh in the region of 62-65 tons as compared to 58 tons that of Arjun with four crew which is great feat in weight management! MBT Arjun has withstood enough flak for decades & proven its merit in the desert trials pitted against blue eyed T-90. But eventually DRDO would have to develop newer third generation tank as China has done. Splitting the sanctions is generally to win race against time for projects which otherwise would get stuck up in red tapes -for which there should be red carpets to roll on smoothly? Splitting by remaining within limit is permissible and let us not grudge this financial authority bestowed on authorities like Directors.

spot on (Paris) 9 days ago

DRDO Chief V K Saraswat was first one to vouch for the Tetra Trucks performance and suitability when former Army gen VK Singh blew the scam in the open. Once scam thickened and stink ed too much, this guy faded in the air. CBI and media doing good work for the khangress family. My friend worked for many year for DRDO and he told me that most of the project engineers outsource work to companies formed by their own family members. Please probe middle management too to show the rot.

dasg (NY) replies to spot on 8 days ago

No wonder the morons continue to buy 70% of the weapons, unmatched by any nation with even 50 million let alone 1200 million. VK Singh remarks must have sent shiver down this crook Saraswat’s spine. But nothing will happen, whole edifice is rotten, and as a result honest people like VK Singh are cast as vilians and crooks like Saraswat are applauded.

dasg (NY) 9 days ago

Ha ha ha Mathematical Society! Good one. Corruption thy name is Indian. But then he is thinking if Sonia, Kamadi, Kanimozi, Raja, Laloo, Pawar and almost everyone why not me. ISRO Nair too made enough. The whole edifice has become rotten to the core.

Mohan (London) replies to dasg 8 days ago

I will like to share my personal experience about DRDO. I have an international reputed Masters in science from one of top European university.I studied from top 10 Indian engineering college. I am working abroad in a research lab, applied for a job @DRDO; they didn’t even select me. While most of the scientists who work in DRDO are below average, lack any capability to produce anything substantial, they wont choose NRI candidates as they believe in corruption. Dumb engineers and scientists want to maintain their status quo without delivering any result!!

bg (hyd) replies to Mohan 6 days ago

“yet another these are sour grapes story”

dasg replies to Mohan 7 days ago

Well Indian or for that matter local recruitment is based solely on your abilities, in India foremost your contacts. That is 1200million people, have not single University among top 100 let alone top ten in the world. They are now being beaten black and blue by China. You have dull people and lazy people, dull people vote along caste/parochial line people like Laloo, Maya, Mulayam, Kuruanidhi, Raja who support crooks like Sonia, Rahul. So its is dullness of mind that they adhere to divisive, highly detrimental and dangerous casteism. Lazy people are middle class who cant up their fat backside to participate in the electoral process even to the extent of casting vote.

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DNA special: MoD audit questions DRDO functioning

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DNA special: MoD audit questions DRDO functioning

Published: Wednesday, Aug 15, 2012, 10:00 IST

By Pradip R Sagar | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

Years after the CAG tore into DRDO and its functioning, a special audit has once again exposed the organisation and its chief, VK Saraswat, blaming him for passing on funds to a society in a clear case of conflict of interest.

The audit, conducted on the orders of defence minister AK Antony, has come down on the ‘arbitrary’ functioning of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation).

The audit has highlighted questionable approval by scientific advisor to defence minister, Saraswat, of grant- in-aid of Rs2.9 crore to an academic institution he heads.

According to the report, accessed by the DNA, Saraswat sanctioned a grant of Rs2.88 crore to Hyderabad-based Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (AIMCS) for research of futuristic radar systems.

Raising infirmities in the sanction, the audit report says, “AIMCS comprises scientists known for their achievement in mathematics, statistics and computer sciences and is not even generally connected with research relating to futuristic radars. And it (AIMCS) does not have any equipment and other wherewithal to undertake such research and development.”

The report says DRDO’s Bangalore-based LRDE (Electronics and Radar Development Establishment) is specifically meant for the evolution of the technologies relating to radars and has required number of scientists and equipment for conducting research of radars.

“It was thus strange to entrust this work to a Hyderabad-based academic institute. Further scrutiny has revealed as the grantee body did not have expert manpower, it started recruiting them after getting money from DRDO, which was liberally disbursed on annual basis.”

The report claims that release of advance payment to the society even for salary in respect of non-existent manpower blocks government funds and provides an opportunity to private society to earn ‘interest income’.

“DRDO is hiring a consultant and the consultant is also planning to hire consultants. This does not seem to be reasonable. Whether recruited personnel had DRDO connection needs to be seen further.”

The internal audit report prepared by senior additional controller general of defence account (ACGDA-Internal audit) maintained that DRDO has undertaken research project relating to radars and part of this research project was offloaded to a private society.

“As such it is only a sub-project of a main project. These facts were not however brought out in the file concerned.”

Interestingly, the report has also questioned another grant-in-aid of Rs3 crore to Dr SB Rao of the same institute, who is co-principal investigator under this radar research project. “A comparison of cost estimates between two projects suggested the possibility of different norms being adopted for costing and possible duplication.”

Comments

Raghubir Singh from Pune

Mathematics and statistics are much relevant like computers in radars as should be evident from some books on the subject. As such on the face of it Advanced Institute of Maths, Statistics & Computer Sciences (AIMCS) seems to have adequate credentials to carry out research in these areas relating to radar engineering? Generally research scholars are hired only after funding is available. For achieving self- reliance in defence , which should be our top priority now , it would be essential to encourage academic and other reputed institutions to take up research in areas which can have military applications. This is the model for defence research followed in other advanced countries including in the US which should suit us too? Now that DRDO is notching successive successes on daily basis–discomfiture of import lobby is understandable and this leakage of secret audit report hopefully is not to slow down the momentum?

Reply | Report abuse       Posted on: Aug 17, 2012 6:34 IST

Raghubir Singh from Pune

Mathematics and statistics are much relevant like computers in radars as should be evident from some books on the subject. As such on the face of it Advanced Institute of Maths, Statistics & Computer Sciences (AIMCS) seems to have adequate credentials to carry out research in these areas relating to radar engineering? Generally research scholars are hired after funding is available. For achieving self- reliance in defence , which should be our top priority now after revelations how the import lobby has tentacles everywhere including in our DPSU’s, it would be essential to encourage academic and other reputed institutions to take up research in areas which can have military applications. This is the model for defence research followed in other advanced countries including in the US which should suit us too? Now that DRDO is notching successive successes on daily basis–discomfiture of import lobby is understandable and this leakage of secret audit report is not to slow down the momentum-hopefully?

Reply | Report abuse       Posted on: Aug 16, 2012 8:47 IST

Raghubir Singh from Pune

It is not correct to say that there is no connection between mathematics, statistics and computer with radar. We can glance through ‘Mathematics of Radar’ by Bill Moran to feel some impact of mathematics on radars. In fact there are large number of books on mathematics of radar, synthetic aperture radar & tracking radar etc. Similarly probability of detection & statistics thereof do form important aspects of radar and need to be explored. Therefore AIMSC with its mathematics, statistics & computer credentials should be able to do research in these important areas relating to radar Futuristic radar or any other such system can see the light of the day only if we encourage academic or research institutions –not necessarily only govt labs to explore domains which have defence applications. To carry out, presumably theoretical work to begin with –the Institute would not need radar system which if required should be available in DRDO labs in Hyderabad? Research work is not production line –it needs new thinking, newer approaches and interfacing of academic, institutional and defence research work for military usage. The auditors & learned author can see

the research models in US & other countries. For sure research scholars for the project can be recruited only after funds are available

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Defence ministry report slams DRDO chief

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Defence ministry report slams DRDO chief

14 Aug 2012Hindustan Times (Bhopal)

NEW DELHI: Defence Research and Development Organisation chief VK Saraswat sanctioned R2.8 crore to a mathematical society headed by him, an audit report has revealed. The report prepared by the defence ministry’s finance wing has also dealt with issues of transparency and shortcomings in projects developed by the organisation.

Defence ministry audit questions DRDO functioning

New Delhi: An internal audit report ordered by the defence ministry raised questions over the functioning of the DRDO and the grant of Rs 2.8 crore by its chief VK Saraswat to a society under him.

The report prepared by the finance wing of the defence ministry raised several issues in its review and the transparency of the research agency with a budget of over Rs 5,000 crore, defence sources said in New Delhi.

The report has questioned the grant of Rs 2.8 crore by Saraswat to a mathematical society.

The report has also pointed out that to avoid seeking approvals from the competent financial authorities, the DRDO was splitting the sanctions for its projects, they said.

It has also cited shortcomings in the products developed by the DRDO such as the Arjun tank, which has been found to be overweight by the Army for operations in certain areas along the border.

However, the DRDO said the issues raised in the report “are essentially in the nature of preliminary observations” and it was “vitiated by a faulty audit process”.

“Such preliminary observations are required to be formally issued and replies to the same should be sought prior to compilation of any report. Only if the replies are not satisfactory is the next step of making a preliminary report taken.

“In the extant case, the laid down procedure was not followed and to that extent, the process of audit stands vitiated. Thus, even before seeking replies of DRDO, presumption and baseless conclusions appear to have been arrived at,” DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said.

PTI

DRDO ‘develops’ blatant financial irregularities

Published: Friday, Aug 17, 2012, 9:00 IST

By Pradip R Sagar | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

The ministry of defence’s special audit has found blatant irregularities in the Defence Research Development Organisation’s handling of finances.

The special audit report, accessed by the DNA, reveals that financial sanctions are being split so that they do not require approval of higher authorities.

The audit carried out by Comptroller General of Defence Audit on the direction of defence minister AK Antony has found that key projects costing over Rs300 crore were tweaked by the DRDO to get them sanctioned without approaching the concerned financial authorities.

“DRDO authorities have sometimes used delegated powers to sanction supposedly new projects to complete the work taken up under ongoing projects, instead of going to the concerned financial authority for revision of cost of the old projects,” the audit report claims.

For instance, programme for development of main battle tank Arjun was sanctioned at Rs69.99 crore in November 2010. But the DRDO authorities changed the entire programme and split it into smaller sub-heads and several procurements were sanctioned under ‘build-up’ so that higher authorities within the system could be avoided. This shows that a coordinated attempt to avoid going to higher financial authorities, which is contrary to financial regulations,” the auditors observed.

Similarly, despite having a comprehensive five-year programme sanctioned for human performance enhancement in May 2009 at a cost of Rs34.56 crore, the director of Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS-DRDO), has managed to get approval for additional projects over the already sanctioned project. Such practice defeats the very purpose of making projects/programmes,” the report added.

Another project called ‘Product support and product improvement of NAG weapon system’ was sanctioned at a cost of Rs28.35 crore by VK Saraswat, director general of DRDO, despite the fact that the Cabinet Committee on Security approved similar programme was still in the pipeline.

Audit report also pointed out an unjustified cost reduction by DG, DRDO for a project for design and development of electro-optical sensors for air-borne platforms (UAV and Aerostat) at a cost of Rs49.82 crore.

“Director General, DRDO has reduced the cost from Rs70 crore as proposed to Rs49.82 crore so as to bring it just under Rs50 crore, which is his sanctioning power,” the special audit report claims.

Under scrutiny of accounts, the audit also found anomalies in facility for elctro-optical system testing (FACET). “FACET was sanctioned at a cost of Rs35 crore by DG, DRDO to create a facility, which is essentially required to meet the objectives of an already sanctioned project,” the report added.

The audit report also observed several split sanctions were issued for renovation of DRDO Bhawan in New Delhi while an unauthorised sanction of Rs49.15 crore to develop vehicle testing facility in Pune from public accounts mainly for civilian use was granted by the DRDO authorities

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DRDO revamp still in doldrums

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Rajat Pandit, TNN | Aug 13, 2012, 01.45AM IST

NEW DELHI: Like the unending developmental saga of Tejas light combat aircraft, now 30 years in the making, the much-touted revamp of the Defence Research and Development Organisation also seems to be progressing at a glacial pace.

Over four years after the Rama Rao Committee (RRC) submitted its report in February 2008, none of the major recommendations to make DRDO a better R&D organization capable of developing state-of-the-art weapon systems without time and cost overruns has been implemented.

Another committee led by the defence secretary subsequently watered down several steps suggested by the RRC to arrive at “a set of acceptable recommendations”. But even this “major DRDO restructuring plan”, grandiosely announced by the defence ministry in May 2010, is yet to see the light of day.

PM Manmohan Singh, last month, warned there was an urgent need to “change our current bureaucratic system” of administering scientific and technical departments.

“Organizationally too, DRDO should aim at becoming leaner and making the best use of its human, financial and technological resources,” he said.

With India still importing well over 60% of its military needs, experts feel it’s imperative to drastically overhaul the DRDO-defence PSU set-up as well as strongly push for private sector participation to build a strong domestic defence-industrial base.

But that seems a pipe dream. As part of the revamp of DRDO, which has an over Rs 10,500 crore annual budget, a new Defence Technology Commission (DTC) was to be established with defence minister A K Antony as its chairman. Quizzed about the delay, officials said “a note for the DTC has been initiated for the Union Cabinet’s approval”. DRDO, in turn, is pushing for an “empowered” DTC on the lines of the space and atomic energy commissions.

Writers’ Comments (1)

Rajat Pandit (New Delhi)

13 hrs ago

The recommendation for the creation of seven technology clusters (missile systems, aeronautics, armament & combat engineering, electronics & communication, material sciences, naval systems and life sciences), each headed by a director-general to ensure timely execution of major programmes, is also yet to take shape. Similarly, “notes for approval of the Cabinet” have so far only been “initiated” for the creation of a commercial arm of DRDO, which was to be created as a private limited company with Rs 2 crore as seed capital, and re-designation of the DRDO director-general as chairman

s_swamy (hyd) replies to rajatpandit

12 hrs ago

The IGMP of DRDO is one of the lone (partial)success story. Credit goes to Dr Kalam (for scientific & managerial inputs) and his successor Dr Saraswat et al for shear sweat. Elsewhere nothing much to brag about. LCA, Battle tank, artillery, torpedos… all are high priority where advanced countries may sell a few dozen, but India will end up a buyer for ever and cannot even find spares later. A very familiar story. DRDO’s effort? After 30 years of tardy development and a few thousand crores down the rat hole, wants to “tie-up” with a foreign know-how source. (Eg:GE for aeroengines, NPOE for Brahmos etc.).What next? No one appears to have any vision. Private companies are a huge let down. Some biggies have invested but Defence orders are far and few; they have shut shop or hiked the margins to keep alive. They have mostly tied-up with foreign suppliers and these items will be obsolete by the time they get first set of orders! They have no homegrown R&D back up, because they cannot find local talent or they don’t trust this. The picture is pathetic.

Raghubir Singh (pune) replies to rajatpandit

12 hrs ago

It is only good luck that RRC has been as slow as Tejas otherwise it would have created much chaos. All the successes we have been privy to in recent times from Agni to BMD’s- would perhaps have eluded us otherwise? Restructuring should be suggested by those who understand the basics of defence research & at least know how a gun fires and and what is the battle field environment. Best would be to have an internal review of the DRDO org structure by its senior CCR&D’s with some retired Directors and serving general rank officers & defence technologists and put up for review to the MoD.

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Government baffled over DRDO chief’s claim on missile shield

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Manoj Joshi   |   MAIL TODAY  |   New Delhi, July 18, 2012 |  

The government of India has been baffled by DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat’s repeated claims that a ballistic missile shield is ready for deployment, and that two locations, presumably New Delhi and Mumbai, will be the first recipients of the ballistic missile defence (BMD) system. Speaking on a TV programme in early May, Saraswat said that “this system is now ready for induction”. Nearly two weeks later, the claim was repeated in an interview to Press Trust of India where Saraswat was quoted as saying, “The ballistic missile defence shield is now mature… We are ready to put phase I in place.”

Only six tests have been carried out so far and there is no confirmation if they worked.

Well-known defence technology analyst Prasun K. Sengupta is sceptical; he bluntly terms the DRDO’s claims as “sheer unabashed jingoistic kite-flying by DRDO, period”.

Only six tests, that too in highly controlled conditions, have taken place so far and there is no independent confirmation of whether they have been successful. As of now it is not clear which of the three services will even man the system. Former joint director of the Centre for Air Power Studies, Air Vice-Marshal (retd.) Kapil Kak says, “It is indeed surprising why the IAF – as the national instrument vested with the responsibility of India’s air defence – was not closely involved from the proof-of-concept stage itself.”

Mail Today requested the DRDO to respond to a series of questions early last week, but had received no response till Tuesday.

According to the DRDO, six of its seven tests have been successful. But, instead of carrying them out in realistic conditions, they have been done in laboratory conditions so far. The usual test comprises of the launch of a “hostile missile” from the Interim Test Range in Chandipur on the Orissa coast, and the counter-launch of an interceptor missile from Wheeler Island just 70 km away. DRDO scientists say that the target missile that was intercepted in the test of February 2012, for example, mimicked a 2,000-km range missile of the type that Pakistan possesses, yet it was actually launched from 70 km away.

Equally important is the fact that the “target” missile is a liquid fuelled slow-moving Prithvi, and as of now the DRDO has not tested its system against its own solid-propelled missiles like Agni I or Agni II. As Sengupta puts it, “Its (the Prithvi’s) slow speed during both the boost phase and the terminal phase “does not in any way mimic the flight profiles of the solid-fuelled Theatre Ballistic Missiles and Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles with both China and Pakistan.”

With nuclear weapons around, only a shield that will guarantee blocking every single missile is the only one worth having. As of now there is no indication that the DRDO, or any other country, can achieve such a goal. None of the DRDO’s claims have been verified by third parties, say, any of our armed forces. In contrast, China’s January 2010 test was authenticated by the Pentagon whose spokesman said, “We detected two geographically separated missile launch events with an exo-atmospheric collision also being observed by space-based sensors.”

The Indian BMD system is something of a puzzle. It was initially mooted by APJ Abdul Kalam in 1997 and taken up in the 2000s, when key technology relating to tracking, fire control and guidance radars became available from Israel, France and Russia. However, none of the three services ever expressed any requirement for such a system. Their need has been for a system to counter shorter ranged, theatre ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Non-proliferation experts are appalled at the lack of any visible political guidance to the BMD. The obvious response of an adversary to a missile shield is to field greater numbers of missiles with nuclear weapons; that seems to be the track Pakistan is following. Kak notes, “For an unstable and fragile state like Pakistan, India’s BMD could indeed be destabilising, as this would substantially reduce the value of Pakistan’s nuclear and missile arsenal, tempting it to increase the same.”

MIT scholar Christopher Clary argues that, “Indian policymakers must be willing to make the calculation that whatever safety comes from missile defences of dubious effectiveness outweighs the risks that come from a Pakistani nuclear arsenal that is larger than it would be without Indian missile defences.”

Of course, there is the other question. In its claims DRDO says that the system will be ready for “two places”, presumably Mumbai and Delhi. But what about Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and the rest of the country?

The government only has itself to blame for permitting a technology programme with such serious ramifications and not providing it any political guidance.

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DRDO have no reply – taken shelter from RTI section 24(1) for unaccountability & delay during Kargil war – More Casualities of Indian Army.

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From-                                                                                              Dated : 24-06-12

Rajiv Chauhan;                                                                                                                                                1053/3,Shastri nagar,Meerut(U.P)                                                                          09412628314;09258045938;

To,                                                                                                                                                                              Hon’ble Defence Minister;                                                                                                                           Govt.of India,  New Delhi,

Sub:– DRDO have no reply – taken shelter from RTI section 24(1) for unaccountability &    delay during Kargil war – More Casualities of Indian Army.

Respected Sir,

Former Army Chief V.P.Malik, who led the army during the 1999 Kargil war, has said casualties in the conflict could have been reduced had the DRDO “not come in the way” of acquiring weapon – locating radars. ‘We had one or two incidents particularly on the weapon locating radar. If the DRDO had not come in the way we would have got them before the Kargil war and that would have definitely reduced our casualties’.

My RTI related to know the DRDO scientist / officer accountable and responsible for the delay which caused more casualties of the Indian Army as per the army chief Malik.. But DRDO have no reply – taken shelter from RTI section 24(1) for unaccountability?

I request you to take necessary action against the accountable officer in DRDO responsible for more casualties of Indian Army.

With high regards,

Your,  Sincerely.

(Rajiv Chauhan)

COPY TO THE : 

 1- Hon’ble President of India for kind consideration and necessary action.

2- Hon’ble Prime minister of India for kind consideration and necessary action.

Rajiv Chauhan

FOR DETAIL PL. SEE ENCLOSERS

Kargil RTI