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DRDO’s cruise missile project Nirbhay on verge of closure

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Nirbhay is the country’s first indigenously built long-range sub-sonic cruise missile | EPS

By Hemant Kumar Rout | Express News Service | Published: 23rd December 2016
BHUBANESWAR: Once a pride for Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India’s own cruise missile project Nirbhay is on the verge of closure.
A highly placed source told ‘The New Indian Express’ that the project is likely to be closed as the missile has failed to deliver desired results even 12 years after the project was launched. A review of the project will be conducted shortly.
Nirbhay is the country’s first indigenously built long-range sub-sonic cruise missile which can be compared with America’s Tomahawk in terms of its capability. Designed by Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), the missile was designed to fly at different altitudes ranging from 500 meters to four km.
Launched in 2004 at a cost of Rs 48 crore, the projected date of completion (PDC) for the prestigious project was December 31, 2016. However, under trial since 2013, the missile is yet to perform as expected after four attempts in the last four years.
The project has been plagued with difficulties as the scientists are still struggling to fix the problems in the flight control software and navigation system while some others point fingers at the hardware.
While the Research Centre Imarat (RCI) blamed ADE-developed software, ADE was pointing towards the defective hardware supplied by RCI. “However, it could not be ascertained which is defective, whether the software or hardware, but Nirbhay missile failed in its fourth attempt,” an insider said.
There has been problem with the control software since beginning. The RCI had developed navigational hardware for their applications and it was adopted by ADE for Nirbhay. There are always differences between ADE and RCI regarding its functional efficacy, the source claimed.
Defence experts have raised questions on the requirement of such a subsonic missile, which can cruise at a speed of 0.8 Mach, when supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, developed jointly with Russia, is already inducted in the armed forces.
BrahMos, which flies at a speed of Mach 3, has a strike range of 290 km. Though Nirbhay can strike targets 1,000 km away, with India joining the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), it can now develop long range cruise missiles as joint ventures.
While initially the expected cost of ‘Nirbhay’ was around Rs 10 crore per piece, DRDO has so far spent more than Rs 100 crore on R&D and trials.
DRDO Chief Selvin Christopher and Project Director of Nirbhay Vasanth Sastri did not respond to the calls and queries from ‘The New Indian Express’. Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister G Satheesh Reddy, however, said he is unaware of any such move.                           

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DRDO scientists bunk meet, canteen boy gives presentation on security

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By Pradip R Sagar | Express News Service | Published: 09th October 2016
NEW DELHI: During his first interaction with the DRDO scientists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conveyed a stern message to them — “Shed this ‘chalta hai’ attitude.”

However, it seems that things have plunged to a new low.

drdo_scien-diberAt a conference, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) asked a canteen boy to give a presentation on ‘border security’ because the scientists who were supposed to hold the session didn’t turn up.

There’s more to the story. In the absence of experts, and to make up numbers, the DRDO sent peons, drivers, mechanics, storekeepers and other non-technical staff to attend the conference.

“We didn’t have suitable candidates to represent us, so some laboratories sent administrative and non-technical staff, including Class-4 employees to fill in the chairs,” said a DRDO official.

Quoting a senior official, an insider told Express, “I was told, ‘let them (peons, drivers, store attendants, canteen boys) also enjoy and have a picnic.’”

The conference, which was regarding the DRDO’s contribution in managing border security in the Himalayan region, was held on Thursday and Friday.
It was organised by the DRDO’s Uttarakhand-based Defence Institute of Bio-energy Research (DIBER), which is engaged in research in the first of bio-energy and non- conventional energy for defence forces. Six key laboratories were asked to send their representatives to participate in the conference.

The idea behind the two-day conference titled ‘Vaigyanik Evam Takniki Sanghoshti’ was to promote use of Hindi language.
Sources claim that since the conference was organised in Pithoragarh district (Uttarakhand), which is close to the China border, many senior scientists expressed their unwillingness to travel 600 km in the hilly terrain and cited “ill health” or “personal” reasons for saying “no”.
The institutes which sent their representatives included Institute of Technology Management (Mussoorie), Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (Dehradun), Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (Chandigarh) and Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (Chandigarh) and DIBER. The DRDO has often faced criticism for its tardy performance, resulting in more than 70 per cent dependence of India’s armed forces on foreign players.the-sunday-standard-9-oct-2016diber1