Indigenisation Dilemma –Components v/s Systems/Assemblies for old legacy Systems for NavalPlatforms.

(by G. Raj Narayan, MD, Radel Advanced Technology Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru)

www.grajnarayan.com

Published in the compendium of the CII Seminar on ‘Innovation & Indigenisation – March to self-reliance’ – July 16th-17th, 2015

[This paper is written based on the experiences of a successful MSME, with strong domain expertise in the defence & aerospace sector, in providing indigenous solutions both for airborne and ground equipment of the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.]

The terms ‘Indigenisation’ and ‘Self-reliance’ in the context of Indian defenceequipment have been talked and written about so much over the last fivedecades that they no longer arouse any passion either among the armedservices personnel or related industrialists. Many entrepreneurs as well asseasoned industrialists have lost significant amounts of time and moneyhoping to solve some of the problems of the Armed Services. This situation is adirect result of the absence of a holistic, integrated and focused approach to‘Self-reliance’ by the defence services as well as the defence ministry. Theproblems posed by obsolete and outdated imported equipment still in servicehas only aggravated the issue.

Defence and aerospace equipment are unique in many ways.

1. They are specialised for use in fighting and support vehicles forspecialised functions.

2. They use specialised technology and systems.3. They are very rugged, reliable, power efficient, and compact.4. There is a veil of secrecy over them and hence not much information is

available in the public domain for indigenisation and reverse engineering.

In addition to the above, the Indian armed services possess a wide variety ofplatforms with legacy systems of western as well as Russian (Soviet) origin,with very little technical documentation provided by the OEMs. The result isthat the user agencies do not even know how they operate and how to repairthem when they fail. Due to the fact that these are specialised systems notfamiliar to industry outside the defence domain, there are very few privatesector companies with capability to handle such repairs, let alone indigenisethe system. Even those who are willing to bite the bullet are forced to gothrough a very tedious tendering process where one is expected to bid forsomething for which even the user agency (Army/Navy/Air Force) does nothave the complete technical specifications! The RFQ (released as per DPM)states incredibly that “Generation of technical specifications is part of thedevelopment process to be undertaken by the vendor”. On the other hand,DPSUs have miserably failed to facilitate the growth of the defencemanufacturing ecosystem over the last five decades. It is therefore no surprisethat indigenisation efforts have yielded very little.

Where does one start? Components, assemblies, sub-systems or completesystems?

One of the first questions that any industry would raise relates to thequantities of requirements and the period of active usage. This is whatdetermines economic viability. It is seen that all RFQs are vague on this matterwith an overriding clause that states that future requirements can neither beconfirmed nor guaranteed. Such clauses, besides very small quantities of initialrequirements, act as de-motivators for a private industry. The user agencyshould therefore be very clear about the actual requirements and also remaincommitted to the procurement of a minimum quantity post successfulindigenous development.

Over the last 20 years, most defence and aerospace equipment have beendominated by electronics and hydraulics content. Even in hydraulic systems,control functions are performed through electronics. It would therefore be fairto say that a large part of indigenisation challenges lie in electronic systems.

In the case of mechanical parts and components that involve only machiningand finishing, it is quite feasible to reverse engineer these, except in the caseof specialised materials and alloys. There have been many success stories ofsuch items. However, in the case of electronics systems, manufacture ofelectronic components in small quantities is not at all viable since these aremanufactured on automated processes in huge volumes running intothousands of pieces per batch. This author has actually received RFQs for theindigenisation of quantities of two or three resistors, capacitors and transistorsfrom defence bases, which shows the utterly low level of awareness amongthe indigenisation personnel regarding the feasibility or otherwise of suchrequirements. Since the electronic component industry in India is presentlyalmost non-existent, all such components require to be imported from abroad.However, a large value addition occurs in the design and manufacture of anelectronic sub-assembly or equipment even with the use of importedcomponents. Since standard components can be sourced from a wide varietyof sources across the world, indigenisation of an entire assembly can still leadto self-reliance instead of being at the mercy of foreign proprietary OEMs whoprovide spares and support at exorbitant cost.

In legacy systems dating back 20 or more years (which is the case with most ofour fighting platforms), the level of technology as of that date necessitated anumber of electronic boards and discrete sub-systems for the realisation of acomplete system, be it armaments, communication, navigation or propulsionrelated. This is in stark contrast with the present state of technology where ahigh level of integration is achieved in more compact systems with a large partof the integrated functionality achieved through software configuration. Thelatter case comprising integrated systems is more difficult to deal with in termsof reverse engineering compared to the older legacy systems. Hence, theexistence of these obsolete legacy systems with discrete sub-systems isactually a blessing in disguise, as tackling the legacy systems provides the idealopportunity for Indian enterprises, particularly in the private sector, to studyand reverse engineer.

The question of whether indigenisation efforts should start at board level orsystem level can only be addressed on a case to case basis. In some cases, itwould be easier and quicker to indigenise just a board or sub-assembly that isthe cause for repetitive failures, while in other instances, it would be morecost effective to indigenise an entire LRU if its complete functionality is clearlyknown. In some cases, especially with small quantities of requirements, itmight even be possible to devise a small piggy-back solution on an existing PCBassembly. However, such decisions involve a thorough knowledge of thedomain of the product/system. In the case of electronics equipment, aspecialist electronics designer well versed in digital and analogue circuits usedin defence and aerospace systems should necessary be involved. Due to thelack of such specialists within the Armed Services themselves, it would be idealto constitute a small team comprising specialists from private industry having aproven track record and experience in design and development activity as wellas specialists from DPSUs who possess the system level knowledge andexpertise.

Radel has successfully indigenised three airborne LRUs using a black boxconcept to realise a Form, Fit and Function replacement for obsolete OEMimported equipment. Four more airborne LRUs are under development andthese would be completed within the current year. In all these cases, theindigenisation has been based on adoption of the latest digital electronicstechnology to replace obsolete electromechanical circuits. These were possibleonly due to the strong A&D domain expertise along with design capabilitiesavailable within the organisation.

It is often found that a laborious, time consuming and expensive process ofindigenisation is adopted when a quicker and cheaper process of repair can bethe better solution. This is true both at the sub-assembly level and the LRUlevel. Radel had successfully demonstrated the feasibility of repair of anelectronic starter module of the Jaguar fighter aircraft in 2012. Radel has onceagain recently repaired a High Voltage (18kV) power supply module of aSeaking helicopter for the Indian Navy, through a judicious mix of reverseengineering, redesign and repair techniques. Radel also designed anddeveloped a sophisticated ATE for a naval armament control system, whichwas executed completely by reverse engineering the electronic modulesforming part of the armament system itself. There exist a large number of suchopportunities where an indigenous and cost effectivedesign/repair/modification can be quickly implemented, provided a competentand proven vendor is given a fair opportunity. On the other hand, there havebeen many cases where orders have been released to prospective vendorswithout the requisite competence and expertise, with the whole exercisefailing to deliver any results besides the loss of a few precious months or years.

Products Designed, Developed and Manufactured by Radel AdvancedTechnology Pvt Ltd

Distributor for Jaguar aircraft Auto Selector

It is also worth noting that repair & maintenance activities provide an excellentopportunity for technicians and engineers for familiarisation with technologyand design. This would lead to the capability of not only finding innovative andcost effective methods of indigenous repair, but also an insight into thetechnologies adopted in the product, thus empowering Indian vendors tograduate to the next step of indigenising either a module or an LRU usingmodern technologies. The Armed Services are losing out on this opportunitysince their technicians are only trained to carry out limited overhauls on theequipment as per specific and brief instructions in the maintenance manuals.

Speed Switch for Dornier aircraft Electronic module of JaguarEngine starting system

High Voltage Power Supply for Seaking ATE for Naval Armament system

Anything not covered in the manuals are referred back to the foreign OEM forrepairs abroad. It is only when the OEMs cease to support the equipment dueto complete obsolescence that the Armed Services are left high and dry, andfrantically initiate indigenisation efforts. Very often, this also leads to aprecariously critical situation. This situation could be avoided at least to someextent by permitting private sector indigenisation vendors to dissect andanalyse the vast number of CAT-D/E items available in various bases andworkshops, as part of technology absorption and upgradation, besidesassisting the repair depots with indigenous support.

The technical officers of the Indian Armed Services (Army/Navy/Air Force) atthe maintenance level are so over-burdened with administrative andmanagement functions that they appear to be completely severed fromtechnology and engineering aspects of their day-to-day operations. Thissituation is a major stumbling block to promotion of indigenous repair andmaintenance capabilities. This can be addressed by conducting technicalrefresher courses for the officers as well as creating a new cadre of civilianengineers who remain attached to the domains in which they are trained. Suchengineers should also be provided periodic opportunities of interacting withDPSUs and Ordinance factories to get deeper insights into design andmanufacture of defence related items.

In conclusion, it can be summarised that a significantly higher indigenouscontent leading to a higher self-reliance capability among the Indian Armedservices can be achieved with a more organised involvement of competentprivate sector companies, who will need to be nurtured to grow up the valuechain so as to empower them to participate extensively in the efforts towardsachieving Self-Reliance.

About the Author:

G Raj Narayan, is the founder and Managing Director of the Bangalore-basedRadel Group. He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from IndianInstitute of technology (IIT), Madras. He served as a design engineer atHindustan Aeronautics Ltd. for 10 years during which he worked on variousplatforms such as the Kiran, Marut, Avro and HPT-32 projects. Raj Narayansubsequently turned an entrepreneur and has 46 years of in-depth designexperience in aerospace and electronics engineering and technology.

Radel Advanced Technology (www.radel.co.in) is an ISO 9001:2008 andCEMILAC certified organisation, with an admirable track record of more than20 successful indigenisation projects for the Aerospace and Defence sectorover the last 10 years. Radel received an MSME R&D award from the Govt. ofIndia in 2010.

Guiding the group of talented and dedicated engineers at Radel with hisinnovative ideas for indigenization and obsolescence management of defensesystems, Raj Narayan believes it is time India went beyond “technologytransfer” which only ends up in our getting dependent on other nations foryears. Raj Narayan has a vision of the important role that MSMEs can performin the defence indigenisation initiative.

@grajnarayanwww.grajnarayan.com