Tag Archives: Aeronautical Development Establishment

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DRDO lab up in arms against scientist’s transfer

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The employees of the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), which is regarded as one of the most distinguished labs of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), are up in arms against what they have called arbitrary transfer.

By ABHINANDAN MISHRA | New Delhi | 28 January, 2018 Sunday Guardian

The employees of the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), which is regarded as one of the most distinguished labs of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), are up in arms against what they have called arbitrary transfer of a scientist who last year was named the “best lab scientist of DRDO”.

According to ADE officials, the said scientist, who has been working with the DRDO for 30 years, is being victimised for not agreeing with his seniors who wanted materials for a project to be procured from a particular company, despite the said company not matching the requirements of the project.

On 16 January 2018, on the ground of “public interest”, A.P.V.S. Prasad, “scientist-G”, who was made the project director of the coveted RUSTOM-II UAV programme of the DRDO in 2015, was moved out of the ADE to another DRDO lab in Bangalore without any notice and without taking the permission from his director.

However, official sources said that Prasad was being pressurised to give his permission to procure products for the UAV programme from a company whose product did not match the requirements of the project and when he did not relent, he was transferred.

Prasad has been credited with making sure that the much delayed India’s UAV programme got the needed push. Within two years of Prasad taking over the project, RUSTOM-II completed its maiden flight, earning him the best DRDO scientist award in 2017. An angry employees’ union of the ADE has now approached Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to intervene in the matter. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, S. Narayanappa, who is president of the ADE civilian employees’ union, said that discriminatory transfers like this affect the morale of the scientists.

“I have been trying to speak to Dr S. Christopher (chairman of DRDO) on this issue but he is not taking my calls or responding to our messages. It was due to this that we were forced to approach the Defence Minister directly. Prasad is a very capable scientist which is clear from the work that he has done. His transfer, without taking even his director into confidence, is shocking. We are still awaiting a response from the Defence Minister. You can just imagine the kind of damage these kinds of things do to an official’s morale. He was offered multiple employment opportunities from various private corporate entities to head their division but he rejected them all,” Narayanappa said.

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Rustom-II UAV to be tested in Chitradurga

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Kalyan Ray, New Delhi, Jul 11, 2016, DHNS
dh 11The first flight of India’s new combat-capable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Rustom-II is scheduled to be held by the end of July in Chitradurga test flight range.

Scientists at the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) would move to the test range later this week for the trial as an window between July 28 and August 2 would be kept open for the flight in the presence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Once ready, the medium-altitude, long-endurance (Male) UAV is likely to be an asset for the military not only for its surveillance capability, but also for its ability to be used as an unmanned armed combat vehicle in the line of the US’s Predator that New Delhi is interested to buy.

“Rustom-II is a very big platform with a range of 250 km. However, for the first flight we will be flying it up to a distance of 50-100 km,” said a source associated with the UAV’s development.

Compared to Rustom-I that was test flown for the first time in November 2009, Rustom-II will be having Electronic Intelligence, Communication Intelligence, Medium and Long-Range Electro-optic Payloads and Synthetic Aperture Radar that will enable it to see through the clouds.

“Rustom-I is a primitive vehicle with minimal capabilities. Rustom-II, on the other hand, has several capabilities, including the ability to carry weapons,” G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri, told DH.

Once fully ready, Rustom UAVs are meant to replace Israeli Heron unmanned aerial vehicles being used by the air force and the navy. The aircraft is named after former Indian Institute of Science professor Rustom Damania, who pioneered aviation research in India in the 1980s.

Addressing a seminar on UAV in Delhi last November, an ADE official stated that the three services initially projected a requirement of 76 of these platforms.

However, like many other defence research and development organisation (DRDO) projects, Rustom-II is also facing time overrun as the production schedule, first fixed for 2016, has now been pushed to 2017 with the possibility that it may get further delayed.

The biggest challenge faced by the scientists is the excess weight of the airframe. The airframe had a weight of about 2,400 kg by 2015 end, which ADE scientists would have to bring down to about 1,700 kg in the final version for accommodating every sensor package.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics Ltd partners DRDO in the development of Rustom-II and has committed several hundred crores as financial support.

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Wife of DRDO scientist murdered in quarters

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Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Mar 11, 2014, 02.00 AM IST
Rajabala was alone at home in heavily-guarded premises

The wife of a scientist with the Defence Research and Organisation Development (DRDO) was found murdered in her residence in the heavily-guarded DRDO quarters in Byappanahalli on Monday. Police say Rajani Rajabala, 49, the wife of A Packia Dhas, scientist ‘D’ with the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO, was killed between 11 am and 11.30 am on Monday.

The incident came to light when neighbours found the victim lying in a pool of blood. Her throat has been slit and she had also suffered stab injuries to the neck, police said.

Rajabala was staying on the third floor of an apartment in ‘F’ wing in Block No. 22 of the DRDO quarters. She was alone at home. Her husband had gone for work and daughter, a first year engineering student, had left for college. The family is from Kanyakumari, but have been staying in the city for the last six years. Her son studies engineering in Chennai.

Police found no evidence of forced entry and suspect the killer fled by jumping from one of the floors to the ground. Salva Kumari, a resident of the ground floor of the same building, told police that at around the time of the crime, she heard the sound of something falling from a top floor and had rushed out. She found an unidentified man sitting on the ground near the building. The man later got up and walked away.

Along with Karthika Devi, another neighbour, Kumari climbed to the top to find out what had fallen. The door to Rajabala’s apartment was open and they entered to find their neighbour lying in a pool of blood. Byappanahalli police, who are investigating the crime, say the killer may have taken something from the house.

“Dhas and his daughter are still in shock and did not speak to us,” said K V Sharat Chandra, joint commissioner of police (East, law and order). “Once we speak to them and find out what’s missing, we will know if it was murder for gain or for personal rivalry. There is huge security for the quarters, but security staffs don’t do much checking in the morning. It is only after 8 pm when security is tight. There were no CCTV cameras installed.”