Defence Minister hands over three DRDO indigenous systems to Navy

New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday handed over to the Navy three systems indigenously developed by the DRDO, including a sonar that is likely to be fitted on the Arihant class submarines.

The AUSHUS-II submarine sonar, developed by the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is primarily designed to be used in Sindhughosh class submarines, and may also be fitted on the Arihant class indigenous nuclear submarines.

The other two systems handed over in the presence of Navy chief, Admiral Sunil Lanba, include a directing gear for hull-mounted sonar array, and inertial navigation system for ship applications.

The Minister also released two other products developed by the DRDO - an IP-based secure phone, which has an indigenous encryption algorithm to provide secrecy to voice and data, to facilitate communication of strategic and tactical plans of the armed forces; and 'Gallium Nitride Technology' that will help in the development of next generation radars, seekers and communication systems, for application in Light Combat Aircraft.

Speaking on the occasion, Jaitley said the DRDO is becoming an important instrument for self-reliance of the nation.

"Great societies and nations are made through people working on important tasks in anonymity, like the DRDO scientists who were honoured today (Friday)," he said.

He also gave away the annual DRDO awards on the occasion.

State-of-the-art submarine sonar suite, USHUS-II, is a highly evolved compendium of multiple sensors. The constituent sonars in the suite include passive sonar, active sonar, intercept sonar, obstacle avoidance sonar and underwater telephony.

The directing gear for hull-mounted sonar array is an electro-mechanical system that supports the transducer array of hull-mounted ship sonar systems and rotates it at a controlled speed for in-situ acoustic calibration at harbour and sea.

The inertial navigation system, based on indigenous ring laser gyroscopes, provides vital information on the ship's position coordinates and heading for steering it to its destination accurately. It features high-speed processor, multi-constellation sat nav receiver, ship specific interfaces and innovative algorithms.