Oct 20, 2006 12:23 PM
10501 Views
(Updated Oct 20, 2006 12:29 PM)
The latest failure of TRISHUL forced me to post this again.
Last month I was in Delhi on vacation and I met lot of old family members and friends. I was surprise to see only one subject on most people lips. THE FAILURE OF DRDO AND ISRO. Well I was deeply hurt to know the condition of our defense system. I hope our enemies are not aware of the pathetic state of our defense organization.
If you believe in twist of fate then you might be interested in this. Two Indian delivery vehicle both meant to fly the earth’s atmosphere under thrust of their powerful engines, crash into the Bay of Bengal on two successive days. Both are built and launched by two apparently esteemed science institutions in the country. Each crash impose a loss running into Rs 200 crore-plus on India, which cannot provide food for all its people.
The failure of AGNI III missile develop by the DRDO and the crash of Geostationary space launch vehicle F02 of the ISRO is something that the people of this country should be explained. After all its our money which went sinking into Bay of Bengal. The government and DRDO should come out in open and apologize to the nation for their failure. The person responsible the blunder and should be terminated from their job.
We still don’t know the causes of the failure of AGNI III. I have written to DRDO under RTI act to provide the cause of failure of AGNI III. I HOPE THEY DON"T BLAME ISI AND KASHMIRI MILINTANTS for the debacle. But some reports says that DRDO used the wrong propellant- an inexcusable blunder in missile technology. It’s commonsense to raise questions about DRDO capability as it has hardly ever succeeded in developing new missile designs.
The ‘Project Valiant’ to develop 1,500 km range missile was a total disappointment. Next ‘Project Devil’ partially succeeded in reverse engineering, the soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile. The prithivi (range 150-250 km) then isn’t truly indigenous. It is not dependable or accurate. Its liquid fuel is corrosive and hazardous to handle. It cannot be launched quickly . It takes half –a-day long preparation. By the time it is ready to launch the country would have new military (terrorists) President at Delhi. Then I guess the terrorist will use the same missile to bombard DRDO.
When AGNI was re launched as AGNI II in new avatar with both stages solid-fuelled. AGNI II was test flown just three times before it was declare ready for serial production into armed forces. By global standard a missile isn’t considered developed unless it undergoes 12 to 20 test flights under different often severe weather and operational situation, to validate its range, precision and consistency. Because missile carry dangerous payloads, including nuclear warheads, it’s vital that they have a near zero breakdown rate.
DRDO started work on AGNI III in 1999 and proclaim it would be ready to launch in 2003. The test was postpone twice causing lot of monetary loss, but who is bother about money? We are ready to pay them all the time like a fool just to see our money being plunk into Bay of Bengal or Arabian sea. DRDO’s poor performance is not restricted to ballistic missile only. The other 3 major projects are on doldrums. The main battle tank MBT is only use of training purpose by the army. They prefer the Russian tanks of operation. The Light combat aircraft LCA launch in 1983 is still in doldrums, the DRDO has failed to develop correct engine for it. The Nuclear Powered Submarine launch 31 years ago is un finish despite an estimated cost of Rs 3000 corers.
The primary reason for these outrageous attitude of under show and clumsiness is lack of public answerability and lapse of DRDO. DRDO suffers from excessive hierarchy, lack of leadership and lot of dirty politics. DRDO has annual budget of RS 4000 crore. This is more then central spending on university and higher education. This is sufficient rationale to hold DRDO answerable to the people.
Now I understand why Dr APJ Kalam got his Bharat Ratna and the Presidentship of our country. Now I realize why we are the weakest nation when it comes to our security.
My conclusion.
All our security and defense system should be out source to better equip nations like USA or China if we want ourselves to be secure from our opponent.
I would like to thank my father, my uncle ( he is with TIFR) and family friend Praful for providing details on DRDO
