DRDO to develop advanced materials

BANGALORE, FEB 22: The Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO will be setting up two foundries to assemble advanced materials ...

BANGALORE, FEB 22: The Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO will be setting up two foundries to assemble advanced materials denied to the country by foreign powers, according to scientific advisor to the defence minister, A P J Abdul Kalam.

Speaking at a function at the Indian Institute of Science IISc here last night, Kalam disclosed that one foundry would be to fabricate gallium arsenide wafers, while the other would produce VLSI microelectronics.

Stating that every denial was an opportunity for India to develop indigenous technology, Kalam recounted that he had toured the United States in 1986, along with the then advisor to the defence minister, V S Arunachalam, in search for a supercomputer to design missiles for the country. 8220;But the journey was in vain,8221; he said.

This denial made the country develop its own supercomputers and the current speed achieved by the DRDO machine Pace8217; was eight gigaflops, he said, pointing out that it would reach 30 gigaflops by the yearend.

Referring to the recent American regulation regarding export of supercomputers to some countries like India, he said that India didn8217;t need to import two gigaflop systems the limit fixed by the regulation, when eight gigaflop machines were being developed indigenously.

Besides, for defence applications, the country had developed a system called Advanced Numerical Processor for Airborne and Missile Applications8217; ANUPAMA, he said, adding, 8220;My dream is that we should give supercomputers to all the countries who are denied these machines by the west.8221;

About DRDO8217;s other programmes, Kalam said that the IISc, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics CAIR and the Advanced Numerical Research Group ANURAG in Hyderabad would jointly set up an Advanced Centre for Information Technology ACIT in Bangalore. The ACIT would find out ways and means to secure safe and fast information while protecting the data originating from the country.

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Regarding the activities on the Light CombatAircraft LCA front, Kalam said that two aircraft were getting ready to fly on Indian skies this year. The LCA programme had already begun yielding revenue, he added, pointing out that softwares developed for the aircraft such as Autolay8217; and Gita8217; were being sourced by Airbus and Boeing respectively for design purposes.