Just a Couple of Days Prior to the Navy Day This Year, the Indian Navy
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Gp Capt Kishore Kumar Khera, VM (Retd) INDIAN is an independent analyst. He has served WEAPONEERING: as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force and was a Research Fellow at Manohar BENDING THE Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and CURVE? Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi. Just a couple of days prior to the Navy Day this year, the Indian Navy successfully tested anti-ship BrahMos on December 1, 2020.i This announced operationalization of another facet of indigenous precision weapon system. But a couple of decades back the story was entirely different.India, at that juncture, depended on imports for almost all air- launched weapons barring 'dumb weapons'. The scenario in the air-to-air and surface-to-air weapons was even bleaker with no indigenous system. The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), the main producer of weapons for the Indian armed forces, failed to evolve and in the name of research and innovation had only minor cosmetic changes in material, structure, shape and filling of unguided air-to-surface weapons. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the nodal agency for research in the field of requirements for the armed forces, could not develop a potent air-to- surface or air-to-air or surface-to-air weapon system in four decades of its existence. The only notable achievement, DRDO had at that stage, was the progress of the Integrated Guided Missiles Development Program (IGMDP) with Prithvi and Agni Missiles test-fired in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Fast 2 forward to 2020. This year a number of indigenous high quality and high potency weapons have been tested covering the entire spectrum including weapons for surface- to-surface, surface-to-air, air-to-surface and air-to-air engagements. In the last two decades, the notable achievements in this field are operationalisation of BrahMos surface-to-surface weapon system in 2007 and induction of Akash surface-to-air weapon system in 2015. The trials for air-launched BrahMos have been successfulii and its induction is on the anvil and an order has been placed for induction of Astra Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVR AAM)iii. India has come a long way but the destination is still too far. Weaponeeing Challenges Weaponeeingiv or Weapon Engineering is an intricate and precise form of science that produces weapons after fusing knowledge of a large number of scientific domains. This process involves an amalgamation of structural and material sciences, chemistry, aerodynamics and/or hydrodynamics, electronics, communication and electrical domains besides extensive knowledge about the functional, structural and vulnerability analysis of the intended target systems. Unless all such knowledge subsets are mastered and blended appropriately, an experiment to design a weapon invariably ends up suboptimal and in many cases in an accident that leads to loss of material and human resources. Worldwide, a very low success rate of weapon development programs bears testimony to this fact.v A firm base allows land-based weapons systems to be of relatively simple design as compared to ship-based systems wherein the system has to compensate for platform motion. And air-launched weapons, then, are the most complex as the mother platform invariably manoeuvres in three dimensions at very high speed that puts tremendous gravitational, aerodynamic and thermal load on the weapon. Similarly, targeting a static land-based target system is the easiest and the degree of difficulty increases for surface targets in motion on land or at the sea but targeting an aerial system is the most challenging because of its high speed and manoeuvrability. Therefore, air-launched weapons, for surface or aerial 3 targets, represent the pinnacle of weaponeering. It is for this reason that there is a very high premium for high-quality air-launched weapons. Broadly, air-launched weapons can be classified into two major categories- unguided and guided. Unguided weapons head towards the intended target following their ballistic or propelled trajectory and such weapons have severe limitations in terms of accuracy especially over longer ranges. To overcome this limitation, weapon guidance systems are designed that control the weapon trajectory to converge onto the intended target and invariably improve the accuracy by three to five times. The guidance systems could be radio-controlled, inertial navigation systems, Infrared homing devices, LASER, electro-optical, radar guidance, satellite-based navigation system guidance or a combination of these. The initial use of guided weapons was by Germany in the Second World War and guided air to surface weapons were operationally used in US-Vietnam war for the first time. However, large-scale application of precision munitions was witnessed in 1991 by the US-led collation against Iraq. Impact of guided weapons in that televised war forced militaries all over the world to recalibrate their arsenals. So was the case for India and search for guided weapons started. But tough economic conditions forced the buildup of guided munitions stock at a very slow pace owing to nonexistent indigenous weaponeeing. A number of air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface guided weapons were imported and Russia, Israel and France were the major suppliers. Kargil conflict in 1999 was Indian precision strikes baptism by fire. On June 24, 1999, the Indian Air Force dropped its first Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) in anger.viUse of a Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) in conjunction with Litening pod by Mirage 2000 at Tiger Hill during that conflict turned the tide decisively and availability of Beyond Visual Range Air to Air missiles ensured the surface force could operate under a friendly umbrella.vii India has repeatedly failed in her endeavour to design and develop weapons systems for her armed forces and specifically for the air force. A combination of failures by policymakers, policy implementers and technologists ensured that India, the fourth largest armed forces in the world, has the dubious distinction of being the largest importer of weapons and weapon systems in the world for the last five decades.viii Dependency 4 on imported weapons not only bleeds the nation of her economic resources but also restrains the development of military capability for achieving national security goals. Although the necessity of indigenous weaponeering has been felt for decades neither the policymakers nor researcher nor technologists could get the required focus and synergy. The DRDO with multiple laboratories for various aspect of weaponeering could not coordinate with the OFB, Defence Public Sector Units (DPSU) and the end- users for a viable and potent air-launched weapon. The outcome was that India could not even produce unguided air-launched specialist weapons like Retarded and Reaccelerated Weapons and the script for the guided weapons was not even drafted in the last century. But is the narrative changing? It appears so. Impetus Two important events in the 1990s set the ball rolling. Initiation of IGDMP in 1988 along with the development of 3D Radar Rajendra laid the foundation for the development of Akash surface-to-air missile system, a first for India that till then depended exclusively on Russian equipment. It was a collaboration between researchers, DPSUs and private sector with DRDOix, Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)x, Bharat Electronics (BEL)xi, Tata Power Strategic Engineering Divisionxii and Larsen & Toubroxiii as major stakeholders. The system development took place in spurts and finally inducted in the armed forces in 2015.xiv This model proved that the private sector could collaborate in a high-risk weaponeering venture where the success rate is very low worldwide. The private sector, with the bottom line as the driving force, could finally accept that one successful venture can cover the cost of many failed attempts. More importantly, it was the focused approach of IGMDP as an integrator to achieve the end product and it achieved its target. The second event was the formation of a Joint Venture (JV) BrahMos between DRDO and NPOM, Russia in 1998 to design and develop BrahMos cruise missiles.xv The critical factor in this JV was that the stake of Government of India was pegged at 50.5%, just below the 51% limit that would have classified it as a DPSU. This ensured a robust functional model 5 without the limitations faced by DPSUs. Two decades later, the end product is that India today boasts of a best in the class weapon and has further expanded trisonic cruise missile BrahMos for launch from land, ships, submarines and aircraft. Additional design modifications are on the anvil for its range expansion, accuracy enhancement and greater indigenisation. This approach by the Government of India to scout for relevant technologies and create a JV for accelerated integration has paid rich dividends. However, more such ventures would have fast-tracked Indian weaponeering. Besides a sense of accomplishment, these projects boosted the confidence of all stakeholders for expanding their funding and involvement in similar projects. Several successful tests and trials of Indian weapons this year augur well for the future arsenal. Notable amongst these are Atsra Beyond Visual Range Air to Air missilexvi, Shaurya missilexvii, Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV)xviii, Supersonic Missile Assisted Release Torpedo (SMART) weapon systemxix, Nirbhay sub-sonic cruise missilexx and Rudram -1 Anti-Radiation Missile (ARM)xxi. It is still a long road ahead till these weapon systems meet all operational parameters under operational conditions. Only after that, the weapons will be cleared for induction. Gestalt The indigenous arsenal is expanding in all possible directions and needs to be supported by policy directions and financial resources. Although all the weapons under development may not find the final approval of the end-user, the die is already cast. Startups in this domainxxii is indicative of germination of an eco-system of Indian weaponeeing with DRDO, DPSUs and private companies as three intertwined verticals.