BANGALORE, DECEMBER 15: Rajendra, a multifunction electronically scanned phased array radar, will be inducted into the surface-to-air Akash missile by the middle of next year.For the first time, Rajendra has been exposed to the scientific community at a three-day international Radar Symposium (IRIS' 99) which began on Wednesday.Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) Director G M Cleetus told newsmen that the first version of Rajendra developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) unit had been cleared by the Army. Work is on for developing the second version by Bharat Electronics Ltd and the Army had already placed order for a specific number of systems.With this, India will be one of the few countries in the world that have developed phased array radars with the others being the US, France, Russia and Japan. China has also started work on such systems.The development of the Rajendra Radar was taken up by LRDE way back in 1990. State-of-the-art design and components have been incorporated in the radar to provide excellent 3D target detection, multi-target tracking and missile guidance under extreme hostile environments.The complete electronics of the radar provides a high order mobility, fast deployment and the highest system availability during field use. Integral gas turbine engine power plant is also provided, he said.Speaking about IRIS'99, Cleetus said around 220 delegates from 11 countries would be attending the symposium. As many as 170 papers were received only 76 papers were accepted for presentation and another 30 would be presented at poster session. The symposium has been divided into 18 sessions and would also have invited talks including one on evolution of radars, an Indian scenario to be delivered by Prof R P Shenoy and future trends for ground based radar techniques by Dr Michel Lenoir Thomson of CSF France.Organised by the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers besides a host of government run institutions, the symposium would discuss radar technology worldwide.BEL Chairman and Managing Director V K Koshy said the goal of the symposium was to give momentum to R&D in advanced radar technologies in India. It also aimed to provide a platform for radar scientists and engineers to simulate new ideas in the design, development and manufacture of radars. The symposium will be inaugurated by ISRO chairman Dr K Kasturirangan and Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
