Electronics in Defense:

Photo courtesy Department of Defense

Operation Specialist 2nd Class Gilbert Lundgren operates radar equipment in the combat information center of the USS Carney

Contrary to general perception, strategic electronics has already faced a paradigm shift due to

participation of private players along with public-sector units (PSUs), even though a major part of the

market is yet to explode in the country. According to Department of Information Technology (DIT), in

the year 2007-08, production of strategic electronics in India was approximately Rs 61 billion,

showing a growth rate of around 35.6 per cent.

DRDO Space Ships

UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become lethal and non-lethal force multipliers in

warfare, cost-effective alternatives to manned aircraft in specialised civilian roles and as valuable test

beds for aeronautical research. Besides, military applications like practice targets, and surveillance

and reconnaissance platforms

UAVs have promising applications in weather research, communications, disaster management,

pollution monitoring, and law enforcement.

LAKSHYA – DRDRO

Pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA) (named as “Lakshya”) is a reusable aerial target system. Lakshya is

remotely operated from ground to provide aerial target for training of gun and Missile crew and Air

Defence pilots for all the three Services. Delivery of five Lakshya systems with 26 operational flights

for Air Force have been accomplished in 2001-2002. The first batch of Lakshya has already been

delivered to the Navy. Three aircraft with Ground Control and Support System have been handed

over and four operational flights have been conducted. Phase-I delivery for Army is planned shortly.

RADAR

This RADAR is the ARPA Long-Range Tracking and Instrumentation Radar (ALTAIR) located in the

Kwajalein atoll on the island of Roi-Namur in the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site. It

was initially developed and built between 1968 and 1970.

More about RADAR:

Photo courtesy NASA (left), Department of Defense (right)

Left: Antennas at Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (part of NASA's Deep Space Network) help

provide radio communications for NASA's interplanetary spacecraft.

Right: Surface search radar and air search radar are mounted on the foremast of a guided missile destroyer.

RADAR can:

Detect the presence of an object at a distance - Usually the "something" is moving, like an

airplane, but radar can also be used to detect stationary objects buried underground. In some

cases, radar can identify an object as well; for example, it can identify the type of aircraft it has

detected.

Detect the speed of an object - This is the reason why police use radar.

How RADAR works:

Let's take a typical radar set designed to detect airplanes in flight. The radar set turns on its

transmitter and shoots out a short, high-intensity burst of high-frequency radio waves. The burst might

last a microsecond. The radar set then turns off its transmitter, turns on its receiver and listens for an

echo. The radar set measures the time it takes for the echo to arrive, as well as the Doppler shift of

the echo. Radio waves travel at the speed of light, roughly 1,000 feet per microsecond; so if the radar

set has a good high-speed clock, it can measure the distance of the airplane very accurately. Using

special signal processing equipment, the radar set can also measure the Doppler shift very accurately

and determine the speed of the airplane.

SONAR

Sonar is a modern technology which helps us to track submarines, fish, ship wrecks, map the seabed

and for other navigational purposes. The four main factors that affect the performance of a sonar

system are a high power transmitter, an efficient transducer, a sensitive receiver and an acoustic

communication system. Although the present day sonar systems have only a limited number of

feature es such as a 2-dimensional screen and a view of less than 360 degrees of the surrounding,

we are most likely to see better sonar systems with a 3-dimensional screen, attached to new

computer systems along with a 360 degree view of the surrounding in the near future.

SONAR Working:

Present day uses of sonar :

• The military uses a large number of sonar systems to detect, identify and locate submarines. • In acoustic homing torpedoes, in acoustic explosive mines and in mine detection • In finding schools of fish • For depth sounding applications • Mapping of the seabed • Navigation purposes • Acoustic locating of submerged wrecks

If you are decided to be part of the defense projects, you can join

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

DRDO

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)

Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML)

Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL)

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE)

Goa Sihipyard Limited (GSL)

Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)

Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI)