India Defence Industry

[Nilgiri]

March - April 2021 edition

https://www.aeromag.in/Magazines/3911137198.pdf

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1380913309591949317

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1381295842640982024

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1384497704064012289

It's behind a paywall but some developments in area in India date back to 6 years ago:

Design optimization of End Cover of an explosive driven helical flux compression generator through explicit numerical simulations

Explosive Driven Helical Flux Compression Generator (FCG) is a single shot device used to produce very high current. It finds applications in various advanced technologies like plasma research, EMP weapons, high magnetic field generators etc. Single end initiated helical FCG is most widely used...

ieeexplore.ieee.org

There might be more tweets from OP later.

 

[crixus]

@Zapper

 

[Nilgiri]

First regiment set of S-400 air defense systems to arrive in India by year-end

New Delhi announced its intention to purchase Russian-made S-400 air defense systems back in 2015

tass.com

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/.

India will receive the first regiment set of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems by the end of this year, India’s Ambassador to Russia Bala Venkatesh Varma told a briefing on Thursday.

"[The first regiment set will arrive in India] by the end of the year," he said, adding that the contract was being implemented in accordance with the timeframe.

New Delhi announced its intention to purchase Russian-made S-400 air defense systems back in 2015. A $5.43 bln contract on the delivery of five regiment sets of S-400 ‘Triumf’ anti-aircraft missile systems was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India in October 2018.

Russia’s S-400 ‘Triumf’ (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the latest long-and medium-range surface-to-air missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons and can also be used against ground installations. The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of up to 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km under intensive enemy fire and jamming.

 

[Nilgiri]

Intech Additive Solutions expands its range of large-format metal AM machines

Intech Additive Solutions expands its range of large-format metal AM machines. Intech Additive Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Intech), Bangalore, India

www.metal-am.com

Intech Additive Solutions has expanded its iFusion LF series of metal Additive Manufacturing machines (Courtesy Intech Additive Solutions Pvt. Ltd)

Intech Additive Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Intech), Bangalore, India, has announced the expansion of its range of metal Additive Manufacturing machines with the launch of the iFusion LF series, the company’s large-format range of metal AM machines with a high build rate for cost-effective manufacturing.

The iFusion LF series, developed and built at Intech’s facility in Bangalore, has a range that starts with a single 500 W system and is upgradeable to a quad laser configuration, with 700 W and 1000 W lasers if required. The LF series of machines are said to require the lowest initial investment to procure and install, compared to other similar-sized metal AM machines, along with locally available spares and support.

The company explains that its AM machines are a result of extensive research, development and innovation over a four-year period. The iFusion LF series, integrated with Intech’s software suite, have a build volume of 450 x 450 x 450 mm, and aim to deliver robustness and productivity at a competitive cost per part (CPP).

“Indian companies have a huge interest in 3D Printers that build parts larger than 400 mm,” stated Pradeep Nair, vice president-Hardware Sales, Intech. “All these machines must be imported and are prohibitively expensive. There are other issues like long lead times for support and spares, making Indian companies ultimately settle for the less expensive mid-sized machines. The iFusion LF series amply fills this void.”

He added, “The system supports a wide range of materials like aluminium, titanium, steel, Inconel and Cobalt Chrome addressing the needs of industries such as aerospace, automotive, general engineering, tool & die and medical market segments in India and abroad.”

K.S. Swami, Director, Poeir Jets, commented, “The 3D printed parts from the iFusion series performed exceptionally well during the testing phases and proved to be of production quality. Intech’s 3D printers helped us achieve the required scale for commercialising manufacturing and ensuring lower cost per part. We are now moving to printing parts on Intech’s LF series of machines. The LF’s larger build envelope suits our needs to print parts for our engine and Hybrid Drones. This, coupled with the lower costs compared to imported systems, local spares and support availability among other things, make it an automatic choice for us.”

“The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has identified Additive Manufacturing (AM) as a critical focus area,” noted Sridhar Balaram, CEO of Intech. “The Government plans to promote various AM sector verticals including machines, materials, software, and design methodologies to leverage new and untapped business opportunities. This initiative will prepare the Indian manufacturing sector for Industry 4.0 and evolve an integrated approach towards this emerging technology.”

“Intech’s range of metal 3D printers is indigenously designed and manufactured for both the Indian and global markets. In this regard it is ‘Made in India, Built for the World’ and captures the essence of the Aatmanirbhar initiative of the Indian Government. We have an excellent team in place and are confident of enhancing and growing the Indian AM ecosystem with our range of metal 3D printers, and end-to-end metal AM solutions,” concluded Balaram.

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1390539415362195457

 

[Nilgiri]

PIP-II successfully accelerates beam using RF power amplifiers from India

Institutions in India are building major components for the new PIP-II particle accelerator, including radio frequency power amplifiers. These amplifiers power PIP-II components that accelerate the particles.

news.fnal.gov

Fermilab is embarking on a major upgrade to its accelerator complex. The new PIP-II particle accelerator will provide greater than a megawatt, upgradeable to multi-megawatt, proton beam power for the laboratory’s experiments. PIP-II is the first U.S. accelerator project that will receive significant contributions from international partners. Institutions in France, India, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States are collaborating on the project.

Institutions in India are building major components for the new accelerator upgrade, including radio frequency power amplifiers. These amplifiers power PIP-II components that accelerate the particles. Each of the 119 superconducting cavities in the PIP-II linac has a dedicated power amplifier, and our Indian partner, the Department of Atomic Energy, or DAE, is providing solid-state RF power amplifiers to power 111 of them. In recent testing, the nine power amplifiers DAE has provided so far showed stellar performance for all critical parameters, and enabled beam acceleration in the PIP-II Injector Test Facility, or PIP2IT, at Fermilab.


Members of the team that works on the design, development and construction of RF power amplifiers for PIP-II met at the Department of Atomic Energy’s Electronics Corporation of India Limited in Hyderabad in 2018. Credit: Electronics Corporation of India Limited


Fifty-one of the cavities in PIP-II will be single-spoke-resonator-style and operate at 325 megahertz, or MHz; the other 60 cavities will be elliptical-style and resonate at 650 MHz.

There are two types of SSR-style cavities used in the PIP-II linac: SSR1, which requires up to 7 kilowatts, or kW, of power to accelerate the proton beam, and SSR2, which requires 20 kW of power to accelerate the beam further.

There are also two types of elliptical cavities used in the PIP-II linac: the low-energy cavities, which require up to 40 kW of power to accelerate the beam, and the high-energy cavities, which require up to 70 kW of power.

The amplifiers that drive the SSR cavities will be tuned to 325 MHz and are being designed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. They are being constructed in a collaboration between BARC and the Electronics Corporation of India Limited in Hyderabad, both DAE institutes.



The PIP-II team successfully tested the first eight RF amplifiers, which the Department of Atomic Energy in India provided for the new PIP-II particle accelerator at Fermilab. Credit: Jim Steimel, Fermilab

The collaboration has already designed, constructed and delivered nine of the 325 MHz, 7 kW RF power amplifiers for SSR1 cavities. These amplifiers were recently used in a test of the low-energy portion of the PIP-II linac, housed in the PIP2IT facility. The team completed the testing of these amplifiers and placed them into service on Dec 17, 2020, and they were operated for over 300 hours until PIP2IT was shut down on April 23, 2021.The amplifiers provided the power to successfully accelerate 2 milliamps of particles through eight SSR1 cavities to a beam energy of up to 17 mega electronvolts, or MeV. The PIP2IT configuration required a peak power level of 4kW from the amplifiers to accelerate the full beam intensity.

All the efforts put into designing, developing, engineering, qualifying and testing of these amplifiers paid off when the amplifiers DAE provided showed stellar performance for all critical parameters. These parameters include wall power to RF efficiency, overall gain, gain magnitude and phase variation, group delay, harmonic contents, spurious outputs and more.

The solid-state RF power amplifiers that DAE provided offer many benefits, such as high reliability, modularity, graceful power degradation, use of lower bias voltages with higher currents and low maintenance.

Industrial grade components, innovative design techniques, direct-current-bias supplies with lower ripple, proper thermal management and appropriate design to reduce thermal drift have resulted in better amplifier-performance parameters, which improve accelerator operation.

The other set of RF power amplifiers provided by DAE, for the elliptical cavities, are tuned to 650 MHz and are being designed by the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology in Indore. The laboratory has already delivered a first unit to Fermilab for testing with high-energy cavities at the PIP2IT facility.

While the assembly and testing of components for the PIP-II test accelerator proceeds, the construction of the buildings for housing the new accelerator at Fermilab is also ongoing. Once the construction is complete, the RF power amplifiers will be moved from their PIP2IT test site to the new buildings for the assembly of the new PIP-II particle accelerator.

Manjiri Pande is a scientific officer at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, or BARC, and is the sub-project coordinator for 325 MHz RF power in IIFC. Jim Steimel is the level-3 manager for high-power RF for PIP-II and is the sub-project manager for 325 MHz and 650 MHz RF Power in Indian Institutes & Fermilab Collaboration, or IIFC.

 

[Nilgiri]

Earlier convo on this matter for context (and quote arrow can be used for more) for interested readers :

Recently found two Super Conducting Neobium Cell Cavities being made using Electron Beam Welding for a RRCAT Particle Accelerator. Here is a 650MHz cavity :
View attachment 3297

And the 9-cell cavity with combined capacity of 1.3GHz :
View attachment 3298
This is the perplexing piece of hardware. Why do we have it ? The current particle accelerators in the country are decades old. Why are we making new cavities that were never a part of the original design ?
View attachment 3300

The most powerful accelerator we have today is the "Indus 2" with a Synchrotron power level of 2.5 GeV. There is a new still proposed accelerator
called the International Linear Collider (ILC), which is a collaboration between USA, Europe & Japan, also uses a 1.3 GHz cavity.
View attachment 3280
The ILC is far more powerful than any present RRCAT accelerator. The ILC will begin operations at 500 GeV, then it will be ramped up to 1 TeV.

So how come we are making the same hardware as them ? The only logical explanation is that we might have a new accelerator under construction. The last one was built 15 years ago, its about time.

When Dr. Kalam was the president he visited Fermilabs in the USA. Where the then director of Fermilabs insisted on India's (in particular RRCAT's) participation in the ILC. That never happened though. RRCAT also participated heavily in CERN's Large Hadron Collider.

It seems to be a further development from existing 500 Mhz cavity:

INIS Repository Search - Single Result

inis.iaea.org

Next, a major effort has been launched on the development of superconducting radio frequency (SCRF) cavities required for the development of high energy proton accelerators for spallation neutron source and accelerator driven system.

A large facility is being set up for SCRF cavity fabrication, processing, assembly and testing. Recently developed prototype 1.3 GHz single-cell niobium SCRF cavities have shown excellent performance providing acceleration gradient exceeding 35 MV/m with a quality factor of 2x1010 at 2 K.

Other highlights on the technological accomplishments include indigenous development of helium liquefier, high power solid state RF amplifiers as an import substitute for klystron source, and development of nonevaporable getter coatings to achieve vacuum better than 10-11 mbar. In this talk, an overview of the accelerator activities at RRCAT will be presented

More Ongoing collaboration:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1393800906316173312

 

[Nilgiri]

Despite Covid, 100+ IAF personnel are in Russia on S-400 missile training as delivery nears

The delivery of the S-400 missile system was originally scheduled to begin in 2020, but the deadline was extended after payments to Moscow were delayed.

theprint.in

New Delhi: Over 100 personnel of the Indian Air Force (IAF) are being trained on the S-400 Triumf Air Defence System in Russia, as both countries eye delivery of the system by the end of this year, ThePrint has learnt.

The S-400 system meant for India is already under production in Russia and is undergoing various trials, sources in the defence and security establishment said.


The trials include high dust and extreme weather withstanding capabilities to suit the Indian demands of operating in the plains, deserts and mountainous terrain.

Sources said the team of over 100 personnel had reached Russia earlier this year and are being trained by a joint team from the Russian military and Almaz Antey, the manufacturers of the system that will become the mainstay of India’s air defence.

Despite US threats of sanction, India had in 2018 ordered five of the S-400 systems.




In March this year, visiting US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had raised the issue of India’s planned procurement of the S-400 and stressed that allies and partners should avoid “any kind of acquisitions that will trigger sanctions”.

The Modi government had, however, firmly explained that the country’s armed forces have a diversified portfolio.

---

Also read: Delhi’s Base Hospital chief transferred, move surprises many, Army calls it routine

---

The S-400 capabilities​

The S-400 is capable of destroying incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones from a minimum range of 2 km to upto 400 km. It also has a tracking capability of nearly 600 km.

While the delivery of the system was to start in 2020, the payment could only be done in 2019 as US sanctions against Russia made it difficult.


ThePrint had in August last year reported that the delivery will begin only by 2021-end as the contract said, it would be done 24 months from the date of the first payment.

Sources had then said that the production process of each system involves a lot of computing and coding, which is very specific to the requirements of a particular customer.


Each S-400 system, known as a battery, consists of long-range radar, a command post vehicle, target acquisition radar and two battalions of launchers (each battalion has eight). Each launcher has four tubes.

Each component of the system — command post, the radars, and the launchers — is mounted on multi-axle, multi-wheel Ural carriers that have the capability to move on uneven terrains.

This capability makes the batteries difficult to detect because they can keep changing locations, besides expanding the missile engagement zone (MEZ).

Among best defence systems​

The S-400 can be armed with four different types of missiles with ranges of 400 km, 250 km, 120 km and 40 km.

The specialised radar can track more than 100 flying objects simultaneously while being able to engage a dozen targets in one go.

Considered to be one of the best air defence systems in the world, the S-400 can cover a height of up to 30 km and the minimum height of detection is 5 km.

The only other country in the region to have the S-400 is China, which, however, has the S-300, the earlier version.

The S-400 has a firing rate that is 2.5 times faster than that of the earlier generation. Incidentally, the Russians have also developed the S-500, the latest version but they’ve kept it for themselves.

(Edited by Arun Prashanth)

 

[crixus]

@Nilgiri , I still have a reservation to consider it as best, in the last Armenian conflict the Azeri Harpy literally took out the AD systems one by one . I am not sure how successful it will be on eastern front .

The second point is can we integrate thme in our existing systems , I think its integration with Barak 8 will be deadly and require a lot more resources from opponents to counter

 

[Nilgiri]

@Nilgiri , I still have a reservation to consider it as best, in the last Armenian conflict the Azeri Harpy literally took out the AD systems one by one . I am not sure how successful it will be on eastern front .

The second point is can we integrate thme in our existing systems , I think its integration with Barak 8 will be deadly and require a lot more resources from opponents to counter

It is not the best, but quite solid performer.

It of course needs multi-layering with other SAM (and general AAD) systems for smaller/nimbler threats (to itself).

Similar to how Aircraft carrier needs dedicated escorts so it can do its job and not be vulnerable to threats optimised more for it.

Armenia with S-300 simply did not have this, not to mention it is extremely small country where lot of things are just not available to it for adequate layering of such system.

Barak, LR-SAM, VL-SRSAM, SHORAD and many other things come into play for the layering under S-400. Just like S400 does it own layering underneath local Indian BMD system.

India will wargame and test these things (with own a/c and missiles and dummy aerial threat simulations + exercises) itself with regard to likeliest adversary patterns in a war. Strategic and tactical Intelligence network (w.r.t adversary deployments) will also be key to optimise within both long and short term time frames.

 

[crixus]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1367787416094830592

 

[Nilgiri]

CVRDE 1500 HP Engine - Alpha Defense

The behemoth of all diesel engines designed and developed in India is now ready. The Prototype is tested for full power using the turbocharger made by GTRE. The engine is probably one of the most important components of any moving vehicle including the main battle tanks (MBT). These powerplants...

alphadefense.in

The behemoth of all diesel engines designed and developed in India is now ready. The Prototype is tested for full power using the turbocharger made by GTRE.

The engine is probably one of the most important components of any moving vehicle including the main battle tanks (MBT). These powerplants aka engines should produce the required amount of power and torque to move a 50-60 tonne battle tank in different types of terrains and scenarios. To move these tanks, heavy capacity diesel engines are used which produce a lot of power and torque.

(More at link)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1395945034067890176

 

[Zapper]

Solar Industries to deliver first lot of 40,000 grenades to Indian Army



CENTRAL Government’s bold decision to open up the ammunition manufacturing sector for private agencies is paying rich dividends as the Indian Army is all set to receive the first consignment of high quality grenades manufactured by Nagpur-based Economic Explosives Limited. It is for the first time in the Indian history a private company is manufacturing ammunition for the Armed Forces. Economic Explosives Limited, a subsidiary of Solar Industries India Limited, was recently awarded the contract of manufacturing 10 lakh grenades worth Rs 400 crore for the Indian Army. The first consignment of 40,000 Multi-Mode Hand Grenades (MMHG) will replace the British era vintage hand grenades being used by the country’s Army till date.

Armed Forces in many Commonwealth Nations, including India, are still using the vintage hand grenades designed by the British way back in 1915. The new MMHG is designed jointly by the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Economic Explosives Limited. Anmol Rathi, Deputy General Manager of the company, told ‘The Hitavada’ on Saturday that a team of senior officers of DRDO and other concerned agencies would soon conduct a pre-delivery inspection of the consignment and pave way for material dispatch. It will happen within the next 8 to 10 days, he said. Highlighting the salient features of the MMHG, Rathi said that the grenades offer numerous advantages to soldiers in terms of safety and lethality compared to the vintage hand grenades. The new grenades come with dual mode – defensive and offensive. In defensive mode, the grenade is assembled with its fragmenting sleeve.

This mode is used while the soldier is in shelter and the enemy is in the open area. Its lethal radius is achieved up to eight meters from the point of burst. In the offensive mode, the grenade is without its fragmenting sleeve and is used for low intensity conflict as it offers stunning effect. The mode is used when the soldier is in attacking mode and its lethal radius is up to five meters from the point of burst. Besides, they are lightweight and can be primed and unprimed many times without affecting the functional efficiency. Until a decade ago, ammunition manufacturing was in the sole domain of Government agencies and it was beyond the imagination that the private sector could foray into this field. But the glass ceiling was broken by Solar Group in the year 2015 by entering into the field of ammunition manufacturing for defence.

Indonesia to buy grenades from Solar Industries Impressed by the safety and lethality of Multi Mode Hand Grenades, many foreign countries are showing interest in the product made by the Indian private company. Some have already started negotiations while Indonesia is the first foreign nation to place an order for the grenades. The Government of India has recently given in-principle approval to Economic Explosives Limited to supply the grenades to Indonesia.

https://www.thehitavada.com/Encyc/2...st-lot-of-40-000-grenades-to-Indian-Army.html

 

[Nilgiri]

No surprise tonbo gets no. 1 slot....but lot of interesting ones on rest of list.

====================================================================

Between 2015 and 2019, India was the second-largest arms importer in the world, behind only Saudi Arabia.

With 50-55% of India's defence needs being met through imports, it's heavily reliant on countries like Russia, France and Israel for its defence technology.

But all that is about to change as India is working towards becoming aatmanirbhar in defence.

They have already set aside 63% of their defence budget for FY22 which is $9.7 billion to procure locally produced weapons and systems. Let's take a look at the top 10 defence startups in India making India aatmanirbhar in defence technology.

 

[crixus]

I was about to post this

 

[Raptor]

Scientists develop efficient Artificial Synaptic Network that Mimics Human Brain​

Posted On: 31 MAY 2021 4:38PM by PIB Delhi

Scientists have fabricated a device that can mimic human brain cognitive actions and is more efficient than conventional techniques in emulating artificial intelligence, thus enhancing the computational speed and power consumption efficiency.

Artificial intelligence is now a part of our daily lives, starting from email filters and smart replies in communication to helping battle the Covid-19 pandemic. But AI can do much more such as facilitate self-driving autonomous vehicles, augmented reality for healthcare, drug discovery, big data handling, real-time pattern/image recognition, solving real-world problems, and so on. These can be realised with the help of a neuromorphic device which can mimic the human brain synapse to bring about brain-inspired efficient computing ability. The human brain comprises of nearly a hundred billion neurons consisting of axons and dendrites. These neurons massively interconnect with each other via axons and dendrites, forming colossal junctions called synapse. This complex bio-neural network is believed to give rise to superior cognitive abilities.

Software-based artificial neural networks (ANN) can be seen defeating humans in games (AlphaGo and AlphaZero) or helping handle the Covid-19 situation. However, the power-hungry (in megawatts) von Neumann computer architecture slows down ANNs performance due to the available serial processing while the brain does the job via parallel processing consuming just 20 W. It is estimated that the brain consumes 20% of the total body energy. From the calory conversion (https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JacquelineLing.shtml), it amounts to 20 watts. While the conventional computing platforms consume megawatts, i.e., 10 lakh watts of energy, to mimic basic human cognition.

To overcome this bottleneck, a hardware-based solution involves an artificial synaptic device that, unlike transistors, could emulate the functions of human brain synapse. Scientists had long been trying to develop a synaptic device that can mimic complex psychological behaviors without the aid of external supporting (CMOS) circuits.

To address this challenge, Scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, devised a novel approach of fabricating an artificial synaptic network (ASN) resembling the biological neural network via a simple self-forming method (the device structure is formed by itself while heating). This work has been recently published in the journal ‘Materials Horizons’.

Aiming to develop a synaptic device for neuromorphic applications with a humble fabrication method, the JNCASR team explored a material system mimicking neuronal bodies and axonal network connectivity much like the biological system. In order to realize such a structure, they found that a self-forming process was easy, scalable, and cost-effective.

In their research JNCASR team dewetted Silver (Ag) metal to form branched islands and nanoparticles with nanogap separations to resemble bio neurons and neurotransmitters where dewetting is a process of rupture of continuous film into disconnected/isolated islands or spherical particles. With such an architecture, several higher-order cognitive activities are emulated. The fabricated artificial synaptic network (ASN) consisted of Silver (Ag) agglomerates network separated by nanogaps filled with isolated nanoparticles. They found that dewetting Ag film at a higher temperature resulted in the formation of island structures separated by nanogaps resembling the bio-neural network.

Using programmed electrical signals as a real-world stimulus, this hierarchical structure emulated various learning activities such as short-term memory (STM), long-term memory (LTM), potentiation, depression, associative learning, interest-based learning, supervision, etc. impression of supervision. Synaptic fatigue due to excessive learning and its self-recovery was also mimicked. Remarkably, all these behaviors were emulated in a single material system without the aid of external CMOS circuits. A prototype kit has been developed to emulate Pavlov’s dog behavior which demonstrates the potential of this device towards neuromorphic artificial intelligence. By organizing a nanomaterial resembling the biological neural substance, the JNCASR team has moved a step further in accomplishing advanced neuromorphic artificial intelligence.

“Nature has had an incredible amount of time and diversity to engineer ever new forms and functions through evolution. Learning and emulating new processes, technologies, materials and devices from the nature and biology are the important pathways to the significant advances of the future which will increasingly integrate the worlds of the living with the man-made technologies,” said Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.

Figure: Scanning electron microscope image of the artificial synaptic network device resembling a bio-neural network. Associative learning is demonstrated by emulating Pavlov’s dog, where post-training the dog salivates by hearing the bell.

Press Information Bureau

 

[Nilgiri]

Accidental post in TR section by raptor (who inboxed me about it heh), could you move it to IN section @Kartal1 or another mod. Thanks!

Raptor next time just tag TR mod.