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Defence Minister Arun Jaitley also released two other DRDO-developed products, namely IP-based secure phone and the gallium nitride technology
Five more Kilo class submarines, which are billed as the Indian Navy's underwater workhorses, will have state-of-the-art sonar suites called Ushus-II that have been developed by Indian scientists.
Sonars are the eyes and ears of a submarine, just as radars are to an aircraft. Ushus-II is a package of several sonars, which include passive sonar, active sonar, intercept sonar, obstacle avoidance sonar and underwater telephony.
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley handed over the systems to the Navy, amidst cheers over another announcement that the Myanmar Navy had ordered India-developed torpedoes.
The sonar suites were developed by DRDO's Kochi-based Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), as also the new directing gear for hull-mounted sonar array and a state-of-the-art inertial navigation system for ship applications (INS-SA).
The minister also released two other DRDO-developed products, namely IP-based secure phone and the gallium nitride technology.
“Directing Gear is an electro-mechanical system that supports the transducer array of hull-mounted ship sonar systems and rotates it at a controlled speed for in-situ acoustic calibration at Harbour and Sea,” a DRDO press note stated. “The Inertial Navigation System, based on indigenous Ring Laser Gyroscopes, provides vital information on the ship's position coordinates and heading for steering it to its destination accurately. It features high speed processor, multi-constellation Sat Nav receiver, ship specific interfaces and innovative algorithms. With the emergence of Gallium Nitride as a state-of-the-art material for MMIC applications, DRDO has established this futuristic technology, which will substantially help in the development of next generation radars, seekers and communication systems, for application in Light Combat Aircraft.”
The Secure IP Phone incorporates an indigenous encryption algorithm on a trustworthy hardware platform to provide a high level of secrecy to voice and data, for communication of strategic and tactical plans of the Armed Forces.
Till now, all these systems were imported.
Jaitley remarked that some of the best innovations have come from the pool of scientists of DRDO, and that in the modern world, societies that invent and innovate will make faster progress.
DRDO chairman Dr S. Christopher said the Defence Acquisition Council-cleared order value of DRDO products has gone upto Rs. 2.56 lakh crore out of which about Rs 1 lakh crore was in the last two years alone.