Indigenous defence equipment dominate R-Day show

New Delhi, Jan 26: India showcased its indigenous defence equipment at the 69th Republic Day parade here on Friday as it aims towards higher self reliance in defence manufacturing under the ‘Make in India’ programme.

Here is a look at what was on display from India’s inventory on Rajpath:

* Rudra Helicopter – Armed version of Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv, Rudra is equipped with Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) and Thermal Imaging Sights Interface, a 20 mm turret gun, 70 mm rocket pods, anti-tank guided missiles and air-to-air missiles. This is the first time a Rudra helicopter of Army Aviation was a part of the flypast at Republic Day Parade.

* Dhruv Helicopter – The Advanced Light Helicopter developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) entered service in 2002. It has become the first major Indian weapons system to have secured large foreign sales.

* Netra – The first indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C) developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), mounted on an Embraer aircraft was seen for the first time at the Republic Day parade. India is only the fourth country to develop such a technology, the other three being US, Russia and Israel. DRDO is now working on developing a more advanced system with 360 degree scan.

* Tejas Light Combat Aircraft – The indigenous LCA is a single-seat, single-jet engine, multirole light fighter. Indigenously developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency, and produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Tejas, as a fourth generation aircraft, can fly at 1,350 km per hour and is comparable to the world’s best fighters, including French Mirage 2000, American F-16 and Swedish Gripen.

* BrahMos missile – A joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India and NPOM of Russia, BrahMos is a short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile, capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface and sea-based targets. The land attack version of the missile has been operationalised in the Indian Army since 2007. The missile had a range of 290 km initially, which was increased to 450 km this year after India became a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

* Swathi Weapon Locating Radar – A mobile weapon locating radar developed by the DRDO and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the counter-battery radar is designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire to determine the point of origin for Counter-battery fire.

* Bridge Layer Tank T-72 – Mounted on a T-72 tank chassis, DRDO’s Bridge Layer Tank (BLT) provides capabilities to negotiate natural and man-made anti-tank obstacles to an advancing tank column. It can lay its bridge instantly and recover the same from the far bank, after the entire tank column has crossed over.

* Akash missile system – This medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defence system developed by the DRDO is produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Bharat Electronics (BEL). The missile system can target aircraft up to 30 km away, at altitudes up to 18,000 meters.

* Nirbhay Missile system – Indigenously designed and developed by DRDO and Aeronautical Development Establishment, this Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile Nirbhay was successfully test fired in November last year, after three out of its four earlier tests had failed. Nirbhay is able to pick out a target among multiple targets and attack it, can go around a target and re-engage it. It can fly at different altitudes ranging from 500 meters to four kilometers above ground and can fly at tree level to avoid detection by radar.

IANS