Defence works to unmanned vehicle production, DEMA comes of age

For over 15 years, the city-based Defence Equipment Manufacturers Association (DEMA), a consortium of 38 small and medium enterprises, developed and tested sub-systems and components as required by the Defence sector. Realising that the time has come to graduate into active production, DEMA is now working on the first lot of ‘off-the-shelf’ products which will include a mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and fuses for armaments, to be ready by 2010.

“Now we will be developing and producing multi-disciplinary systems and put them up for ‘off-the-shelf’ purchase,” said DEMA President D S Kamlapurkar. Around 10 of DEMA’s members have formed a separate manufacturing entity —- by the name of DEMA Mechatronics — which will engage in the development, manufacturing and marketing of the complete systems.

By 2010, DEMA Mechatronics plans to build up the capacity to produce around 100 UAV’s and 2 lakh variable time fuses and around 50,000 proximity fuses per year. “We will initially manufacture around 2 lakh variable time fuses and gradually increase the number to 5 lakh per year,” said Kamlapurkar. “We are also venturing into indigenous production of proximity fuses.”

“The UAV will be an upgraded version of the Vihanga Netra, the first effort of the DEMA consortium using Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) funds,” said Yogendra Jagirdar of Jagirdar Aeroproducts, which is in charge of designing and making the UAV aircraft, its field-testing and operation. “This will be our second attempt at manufacturing UAVs after the Vihang Netras,” he added.

There will be additional features like night vision compatibility, map overlays and the ability to lock on to a target. It will be a wheeled version, compact compared to the Vihang Netra, and weighing 25-40 kg. It will possess a range of 10 km, an altitude of 1.5 km and a speed of 100 km per hour.

Dema is planning the UAV for the civil sector as well. “The UAV can be used for non-defence forces as well, like the police or even paramilitary troops for surveillance,” said Kamlapurkar.

While fuses and UAVs are DEMA’s priority projects for full-fledged production right now, some of its members are also involved in producing moving targets and the association will gradually delve into the production of smart weapons.

“At present the Vihang Netra is being used as a moving target and we are planning to produce more targets for defence use. We also plan to produce smart mines, which are activated by remote, shoulder rocket launchers etc. The technology is already a part of some other products and we will just have to adapt them to develop the proposed products,” explained Kamlapurkar.