Summary
The SRS would facilitate recovery of supersonic projectiles and would contribute in strengthening India’s advanced defense systems
With this development, India has joined the league of the few countries who have a Soft Recovery System
In a joint venture, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and Ordnance Factory Medak (OFMK), a unit of Armored Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL) have developed India’s first Soft Recovery System (SRS) for supersonic projectiles.
The SRS bears the potential to arrest the motion of a 30 mm supersonic projectile moving at a speed of roughly Mach 3 i.e. three times the speed of sound, within a distance of about 50 meters. This pioneering SRS technology has been developed under the collaborative efforts and leadership of Nachiketa Tiwari, professor, IIT Kanpur, and Alok Prasad, general manager of Ordnance Factory Medak (OFMK).
A Soft Recovery System is used for the recovery of a projectile after initial impact with minimum damage. This is to ensure the development of smart and intelligent warheads with maximum effectiveness and minimum collateral damage. The acquisition of SRS technology is a prerequisite for the development of smart and guided munitions, as it can provide a test bed to prove out smart munition designs.
Lt. Gen A Mukherjee (retd.) said, “Heartiest congratulations to the whole team for successfully developing the Soft Recovery System for projectiles in conjunction with OF Medak. It is a milestone in the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative of the government of India.”
At present, only a few countries have a Soft Recovery System, and now India has joined the league. In this collaborative Research and Development endeavor, the IIT Kanpur team was involved in concept development, design and virtual validation of the SRS. They also undertook the testing of sub-assemblies; while Armored Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL)’s Ordnance Factory Medak (OFMK) was instrumental in fabricating and assembling the roughly 50 meters long assembly to exacting standards. They have developed the test infrastructure for the SRS. This joint IITK-AVNL R&D effort has not only formulated India’s first Soft Recovery System (SRS) but also has yielded several proprietary technologies, which will help India in attaining the Atmanirbhar Bharat goals in the defense sector.
Abhay Karandikar, director, IIT Kanpur, said, “IIT Kanpur advocates for multi-stakeholder collaboration for holistic development in the research and innovation sector. This is another prime step in this regard and I’m glad that IIT Kanpur has contributed to a key development in India’s defense field by developing the first Soft Recovery System. It would not only assist in the effective recovery of supersonic projectiles, but also would contribute towards the larger goal of attaining India’s self-reliance in developing advanced defense systems.”
Last year, IIT Kanpur and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) Kolkata also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to offer a customised Master of Design (MDes) programme for officers sponsored by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to help them design sophisticated weapons and weapon-systems for making India self-reliant.
Bharat Singh, senior general manager (retd), Ordnance Factory Medak, said, “Development of futuristic ammunition requires advanced validation techniques and Soft Recovery System is the most important of them all. It is a unique capability which should be further expanded to higher calibre ammunition. Such testing facilities will help design agencies and defense startup companies in the field of smart munitions development.”
Last updated on 05 Mar 2022
