Thursday

29


September , 2022
India’s Early Initiatives in Atma Nirbhar in Defence Preparedness: Guided Missile Development Programme
13:10 pm

Lt Gen (Dr)VJ Sundaram


Systems engineering was adopted to arrive at optimum and feasible designs which were finalised with indigenous systems taking research, development, fabrication, time and costs into account. Schedules for first flight (February 1988) and induction clearance (1995) were also finalised.

 

Academic institutions, DRDO and CSIR Labs as well as public and private industries were fully involved including start-ups. Critical facilities were established at industries, DRDO/CSIR labs and even academic institutions. All subsystems were first qualified for flight. (Hardware + Software) in loop simulations were carried out simulating actual flight trajectories and conditions. Meanwhile all the ‘developed countries’ applied the Missile Technology Control Regime in full force against India.

Prabhakar, S Paneerselvam, Theerthamalai and Dr VJ Sundaram who led the first flight vehicle design team.”  

 

The down range dispersion (CEP) with the incorporation of fused INS-GPS navigation has been made range independent and reduced as well, to meet user requirement. Such improvements were possible only because of the close interaction between designers and the user. This would have been impossible with an imported system. Computer systems have been upgraded/replaced with more powerful PC systems. Prithvi missile has been modified and used for the evaluation of the Programme ‘AD’ systems. With suitable modifications, it is being used to simulate the incoming target missile in Programme AD’.

 

Capt. (IN) Bahadur concludes, “Project Prithvi is a prime example of the success of the indigenous programme. It gives confidence that provided the correct leadership and synergy can be established between all the partners, India can reduce, if not eliminate our dependence/requirement for the imported weapon systems.”

 

Recognition of the work of Indian Defence Scientists

The Military Technology Magazine of Germany (June 1999) wrote, “India’s Prithvi Missile is very sophisticated but it is the most inexpensive weapon in that class in the world. The cost of each missile was estimated at Rs 50 million ($1.2 million) which is the lowest figure anywhere in the world for this type of weapon.” The magazine attributed the low cost of developing the missile, which can be fitted with conventional warheads, to local sourcing and manufacturing of all components. The missile’s crucial guidance system, it said, was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) after years of effort.

 

Conclusion

One of the reasons which made all these successes possible were the principles implied in the Bombay Plan. These were implemented in spirit, by establishing critical facilities with government support, realistic estimates of time, cost, and manpower, in depth reviews and ensuring that a market was there for the products when they were ready. 

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