“We have been holding discussions with Safran on the joint development of AMCA engine. With Single Crystal Blade, DRDO has achieved major milestone in engine manufacturing" Says DRDO Chief

Defence is the thrust. Government has focused much on policies and, is looking at the various possibilities that could boost defence manufacturing in India. It is ample now. Multiple announcement in the framework of the DAP 2020 has laid out concrete measures as it is unfolding the intention as how the defence sector is going to be. According to SIPRI, the five biggest spenders in 2020, which together accounted for 62 per cent of global military expenditure, were the United States, China, India, Russia and the United Kingdom. US military expenditure reached an estimated $778 billion and China’s military expenditure, the second highest in the world, is estimated to have totalled $252 billion in 2020.

While India’s defence budget reached USD 70 billion in the current financial year (2022-2023). Leave aside the U.S. military spending and the military advancement for the reason that are a plenty but China cannot be taken off the map. We are already dealing with the Chinese military at our doors and that warrants a dictum of ‘capability- comparison’.

Firstly, within the defence budget, the capital outlay, which focuses towards the modernization of Armed Forces has been increased by 12.82 percent with an allocation of USD 20.36 billion. Also, In recognition of the modernization deficit, the defence budget sets aside 25 percent of the total R&D budget for private industry. So what is our total R&D, taking account of the entire R&D ecosystem in the country? India spends less than 1% of it GDP on R&D and to be more precise -- 0.65% ( ~ USD 58 billion). And as per the conservative estimates, China spent a massive USD 514 billion which is about 3.3 % of the GDP.

In the current defence budget of 2022-23, R&D allocation is less than 2 percent of total defence budget. Again, the Lok Sabha Standing Committee on Defence 2019-2020 mentioned the PRC’s R&D at 20 percent of the Chinese defence budget. On 2021 budget, it would mean that China could spend as much as $70 billion this year just on equipment alone which is for the procurement and military R&D. While the defence has been the catalyst for many technological breakthroughs, it is more so applicable today with a total transformation of battlefield.

In the context, R&D in defence exhorts greater attention to fund such technology development in microelectronics, hypersonics, artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, and similar high-priority military capabilities. This would propel the militarization of the fourth industrial revolution through artificial intelligence, big data, man-machine interfacing, autonomous unmanned systems, 5G networking, and the like—in order to create new dominant military-technological advantages. This builds up the case of Indigenization.

Such is the impact of the policies that put overall priority on R&D in Defence. The statistical spread is intended to understand the ecosystem of defence innovation. And within that India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has been spearheading some of the most successful defence innovations, including the gradual advancement of indigenous missile programs. In its new avatar, with structural changes and thrust on accountability, DRDO has set up to push the boundaries. Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary DDR&D and Chairman DRDO has been responsible for much of the changes lately. In an exclusive interaction, Dr Reddy speaks on the wide range of technological breakthroughs and innovations which are taking place in DRDO’s laboratories spread across India. In the interaction, he projected the defence innovation in its timeline for that is so vital for the applications and its efficacy in the making of a military hardware.

In an exclusive interaction, Dr Reddy speaks with Manish Kumar Jha of BW Businessworld on the wide range of technological breakthroughs and innovations which are taking place in DRDO’s laboratories spread across India. In the interaction, he projected the defence innovation in its timeline for that is so vital for the applications and its efficacy in the making of a military hardware. He also speaks about the crucial thread between DRDO and industry.

As reported, DRDO is collaborating with French OEM for developing an aero engine for the AMCA project which is under the SPVs norms. Will it be jointly developed under the open architecture matrix, having full access and rights of the said engine with DRDO? We have been talking about this but we have not reached the point where things start moving on the ground yet.

G Satheesh Reddy: And my answer is very clear on this. As far as the aero engine is concerned, the country has worked on Kaveri engine. By the time it came up, the requirement of the TEJAS had changed. So Kaveri could not go into it. But with necessary Technologies, some things that have been develop. Kaveri dry engine which is about 50 KN are underway for some other application. Now coming to AMCA, we need a higher thrust engine, which is not available anywhere in the world today of exact fitting and with specified thrust requirement.

So, Safran is an option as they have been in dialogue with DRDO for a long time and also there are opportunities for the collaborations under the offset as per the procedures. So we have been holding discussions with Safran on the joint development of AMCA engine. And discussions are still going on.

It's all the new project all together from scratch?

G Satheesh Reddy: Absolutely! These will be new technologies and new engine completely.

Some technologies which are developed, will be of huge help but it's altogether a new design.

Are you also are talking with other players like GE because we have inked a deal with them for Tejas?

G Satheesh Reddy: With GE, we are in touch for TEJAS MK-2 engine of 98KN.

Expect any breakthrough soon?

G Satheesh Reddy: We have to wait for some time. We are holding the discussions because there are a lot of technical aspects to be taken into account. A lot of details that go into such collaborations. Analysts have to study and come back. And, we are also waiting for some more reports and analysis from Safran.

So, during the discussion, it came up that as you know, these are the material based on advanced and complex metals but mostly mix of Titanium and Nickel based material. Have we done something in such areas?

G Satheesh Reddy: Our laboratory DMRL has been working on all materials and processing technologies; for making very specific, things like for example, a single Crystal Blade technology has been developed by DMRL. It is supplying to HAL for its engines and GTRE for other engines. So, one by one, the Technologies are being developed in advanced material domain.

 But these are a group of rare materials and some of them you need to explore from outside?

G Satheesh Reddy: Some of them are already available in the country. We are developing the processing technologies and such that the product can be developed. These are all the things DMRL is working and they're in a good shape and many other things are coming up for specified materials.

So, with Single Crystal Blade, DRDO has achieved major milestone in engine manufacturing fully?

G Satheesh Reddy: Yes.