NEW DELHI, 1 September 2004 — India, which tested an indigenously built ballistic missile on Sunday, is holding talks with Israel about joint production of a long-range missile, the country’s chief military scientist announced yesterday.
India will soon launch programs with Israel to develop hi-tech components needed for electronic warfare systems, V.K. Aatre, the outgoing chief of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), said.
Aatre said India had decided to launch joint programs with Israel in the field of electronic warfare, where both countries were on an equal footing.
“Wherever they have strengths, we want to jointly develop the missiles so that both countries can benefit and share designs, costs and risks,” Atre said.
Atre denied that Israel was already helping India to build guided missiles and said defense cooperation was confined to research and the development of sensors and fiber-optic gyroscopes for the military.
“They (Israel) are very strong in sensors and packaging. We would like to work on fiber-optic gyros and micro-electromechanical systems,” Aatre told reporters shortly before he retired as DRDO chief.
Atre did not elaborate about the system which India hopes to build jointly with Israel. He said talks are being held between the DRDO and its state-owned Israeli counterpart.
India has in recent years forged close military links. It is acquiring two Phalcon Airborne Early Warning Systems from the Jewish state at a cost of $1 billion.
Referring to cooperation with the United States in defense research, the scientist said the two sides had done some work on life sciences and would launch joint programs on developing nano-technology and nano-materials. India and the US currently have a joint technical group to oversee collaboration in defense research.
Experts say such technologies could one day lead to highly compact and hard-to-detect flying machines and vehicles that could be used for surveillance.
Aatre, who headed DRDO for nearly five years, said the organization had achieved “a fair amount of maturity” in developing electronic warfare and radar systems. It had also made significant strides in developing integrated circuits and components used in aircraft, missiles and electronic warfare systems.
A battle field surveillance radar and a weapon locating radar (WLR) developed by DRDO would soon be subjected to extensive tests and Aatre said he was confident the WLR would soon emerge as an indigenous equivalent to a system currently imported from the US.
The DRDO is also working on a missile defense system, a missile warning system and an underwater unmanned vehicle.
Aatre described the maiden flight of the indigenously developed light combat aircraft (LCA) as the “highlight” of his 25-year career with DRDO.
“The LCA has completed 260 flights and come of age. We hope to get initial operational clearance for it in 2007,” he said.
“Induction into the Indian Air Force is expected by 2010, and we will make eight aircraft a year, with the first (production) aircraft expected in 2007,” he said, adding that the LCA was expected to fly with the indigenous Kaveri engine by 2006-07.
Aatre admitted the problems faced in developing Kaveri were “far more complex than anticipated”, but DRDO scientists had overcome several “design issues” after tests in Russia. DRDO’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, which had led to nuclear-capable missiles like Prithvi and Agni, was progressing well, he said.
Both nuclear-capable missiles had been inducted into the army, and Sunday’s test of the Agni-II, which has a range of over 2,000 km, was meant to validate the army’s capability to launch the missile.
Aatre said DRDO had trained army personnel in maintaining and launching the missiles and Sunday’s test was the first one that directly involved the army in the launch of the Agni-II.
The Agni-III, which has a range of over 3,000 km, will “soon” be tested for the first time, Aatre said, but refused to set a date for the launch. He said his successor, M. Natarajan, who assumed office yesterday, would make a decision on the launch of Agni-III.
