Indian Defense Industry General News and Updates

Zetwerk Manufacturing, a B2B contract manufacturing start up has attained "unicorn" status in 2021. The company is only 3 years old. They mostly work for industries like Oil & Gas, Automobile, Construction, Metals & Steel, Aviation etc. Recently they forayed into defence & aerospace.

Here is a video from their website:



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For a 3 year old company they have significant manufacturing prowess. Some defence & avation related stuff they built and the manufacturing method employed are listed below:

1. Investment Casting:
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2. Die Casting:
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3. Precision Machining:
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4. Forging:
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ZetWerk has partnered with a Bangalore based defence start up named Kinetix Engineering. The JV is called Zetwerk Kinetix Technologies Pvt Ltd, they will develop and build UAVs, protection systems, rocket motor transportation systems. One such UAV was showcased recently at the recent Aero India-2021. Looks like a target drone.
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On the Kinetix website these are marked as "Aerial Targets". Kinetix also has an USA division that may have provided components to the Raytheon-Orbital supersonic target drone.
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ZetWerk also has a new subsidiary named Zetwerk Aero systems. ZetWerk COO states:

Zetwerk Aerosystems Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Zetwerk Manufacturing, will focus on the aerospace, defence and space domain and will primarily manufacture satellites, composite products, and rocket casings required by the defence ministry. In the aerospace category, Zetwerk Aerosystems plans to manufacture aircraft parts for international original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aircraft manufacturers. It will pursue orders from both state-run defence and space units and target international OEMs in this domain.

Source: Zetwerk Forays into Aerospace, Defence Sectors - Raksha-Anirveda

Here is a Forbes article about Zetwerks journey so far:

How Zetwerk Battled Fear Of The Unknown To Turn Unicorn In Three Years | Forbes India

Now this latest article from ET Prime says ZetWerk is manufacturing aircraft engines, presumaby for a global OEM. Unfortunately I can't access the article:

From industrial pipes to aircraft engines, a three-year-old company is firing up Make in India

Its is so good to see more hardware & manufacturing start ups. The Indian start up ecosystem is beginning to make an impact onto the defence industry.
 
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This is very concerning though. Ozak is just rebadging the products of that Turkish company with maybe some level of local manufacturing or local content.
 
Ministry of Science & Technology

High-quality transparent ceramics developed for the first time in India can be used in thermal imaging and personal protection equipments​


Posted On: 15 SEP 2021 6:23PM by PIB Delhi

Indian researchers have developed transparent ceramics, reaching theoretical transparency through a technique called colloidal processing followed by simultaneous application of temperature and pressure, for the first time in India. The material can be used for thermal imaging applications, especially in harsh service conditions and personal protection systems such as, helmets, face shields, and goggles.

Transparent ceramics is a new class of advanced materials with unique transparency and excellent mechanical properties. These materials can be designed not only for transparent to visible light but also for ultraviolet (UV), Infrared (IR), and Radiofrequency (RF), giving opportunity for diverse applications. Though produced by different countries globally, transparent ceramics are restricted in supply as they can be used for strategic applications. Though several attempts were made in the country, the transparent ceramics produced were either on a laboratory scale or low transparency. Currently developed process is able to produce the sizes usable for several applications and on a pilot scale.

Generally, prepared from the high purity powders through a line of critically engineered processing steps, transparent ceramics needs preparation processes that will help achieve theoretical transparency by eliminating defects. Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) involving reactions of the precursors in the vapor phase at elevated temperatures and HotIsostatic Pressing (HIP) involving simultaneous application of temperature and pressure are a few advanced processing techniques generally practiced to address the above challenges. An enhanced diffusion process at high temperature under pressure is suggested as the possible mechanism to eliminate the defects.

Researchers at the ARCI have produced magnesium aluminate spinel ceramics with colloidal processing followed by HIP technique which involves the simultaneous application of temperature and pressure. Spinel is currently emerging as a transparent ceramic based on the outstanding optical properties of transmission – more than 75 % in the visible and more than 80% in the infrared range. It also has higher strength of 200 megapascal and hardness of more than 13 Gigapascal. This research has been published in the journal ‘Materials Chemistry and Physics’ recently.

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(a)
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(b)
Fig.1. Transparent ceramic samples before (a) and after HIPing at ARCI(b)

With potential applications in infantry personal protection systems involving thermal imaging such as helmets, face shields, and goggles, these transparent ceramics developed in India is a step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.

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Fig.2.The transmission curve of a spinel sample developed at ARCI

Publication details:

Studies on the correlation of surface properties, colloidal shaping, and transparency of magnesium aluminate spinel powder, Papiya Biswas, Swathi Manivannan, Y. Srinivasa Rao, Roy Johnson, Materials Chemistry and Physics 252 (2020) 123372

For more details: Dr. Y. Srinivasa Rao [ysr(at)arci(dot)res(dot)in] and Dr. Roy Johnson [royjohnson(at)arci(dot)res(dot)in] can be contacted.

High-quality transparent ceramics developed for the first time in India can be used in thermal imaging and personal protection equipments
 

PLIs to create turnover of Rs 900 crore from drone manufacturing over next 3 years: Jyotiraditya Scindia​

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia on September 16 said that production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme will help create a turnover of Rs 900 crores from drones manufacturing in the next 3 years, which would help in creating an employment for 10,000 people in this sector.

Addressing a press conference, the Union Minister said that the current size of drone manufacturing segment in India is around Rs 80 crores and the government will work towards making India a drone manufacturing hub by 2030. Among other details, Scindia said that the drone sector will see investment worth Rs 5,000 crores in India in the next three years.


"Over a period of three years, Estimated investment worth Rs 5,000 crore for manufacturing sector drones will be done which in turn will bring a turnover of Rs 900 crore, and 10,000 job opportunities will be created," Scindia said.

"Current drone manufacturing sector is about Rs 80 crore. Under this PLI scheme, the government is going to give Rs 120 crore incentive in next three years...which means the government is announcing one-and-half percent extra incentive than the actual size of drone manufacturing sector," he added further.

On September 15, the Union Cabinet approved Rs 120 crore to encourage production of drones and their parts under its PLI scheme. This is part of Rs 26,058 crore amount approved of PLI scheme to encourage domestic production of automobiles, drones and their components.

COVID-19 Vaccine

With the new initiative, the Centre is aiming for the domestic drone sector to fulfil a number of civilian, commercial and military needs, including surveillance, delivery of medicines, food and goods, and requirements in sectors like the railways, roadways and agriculture.

Earlier on September 14, the Civil Aviation Ministry permitted the ICMR to use drones up to a height of 3,000 metre to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to Manipur, Nagaland, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Apart from this, in August, the ministry had passed that the new Drone Rules 2021 which will replace the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Rules 2021. The government had announced the new drone rules on July 15 and invited comments from stakeholders and the industry till August 5.
 
The latest set of iDEX challenges have been announced by the Navy. Sensor fusion & Co-operative engagement seems to be the broader theme.

This one is for broadening the ASW net. We have datalinks between ASW ships, P-8Is, drones, sea based sensors etc. The only missing link is our submarines :


Sensors for tactical drones for the Navy :


The next one is the most important one. A 5G machine to machine private communications network for better CEC among older ships. The older ships of the navy rely on either SATCOM or radio for data link today. Thus their co-operative engagement capacity are limited. A 5G network will certainly improve things by providing a wider bandwidth, much higher speeds & reliability. We have Indian companies with their own 5G core IP & hardware. This shouldn't be too hard to develop :


This one is for drawing electrical power from engine flywheel :


Ships using diesel engines can generate more power this way. Presently only the kinetic energy of the engine is converted to electricity by alternators, the inertia/potential energy is not converted to electrical energy.
 
In 2018 IAF issued a $2 billion tender for Base Protection Guns/Close-in weapon systems (CIWS) to defend against guided munitions, drones etc. The plan was to acquire 244 guns, 4 guns each in 61 locations with 61 radars. 50% value of the order has to be made in India. IAF wants deliveries to being around 2023.

Kalyani Systems formed a JV with IAI for radars & BEA for the guns. They will do systems integration & some local manufacturing I guess.
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The gun is the BAE/Bofors 57mm L/60
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The radars are unknown as of now.

Kalyani has released a short clip of the gun firing. Probably their internal trials. You can also see the radars.


L&T will also participate in this tender with their Sudarshan CIWS which is based on the 40mm Bofors L70 gun. L&T is also participating on the Army's L70 upgrade. For them it is a "two bird with one stone" scenario.
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In 2018 IAF issued a $2 billion tender for Base Protection Guns/Close-in weapon systems (CIWS) to defend against guided munitions, drones etc. The plan was to acquire 244 guns, 4 guns each in 61 locations with 61 radars. 50% value of the order has to be made in India. IAF wants deliveries to being around 2023.

Kalyani Systems formed a JV with IAI for radars & BEA for the guns. They will do systems integration & some local manufacturing I guess.
View attachment 21401

The gun is the BAE/Bofors 57mm L/60
View attachment 21402
The radars are unknown as of now.

Kalyani has released a short clip of the gun firing. Probably their internal trials. You can also see the radars.


L&T will also participate in this tender with their Sudarshan CIWS which is based on the 40mm Bofors L70 gun. L&T is also participating on the Army's L70 upgrade. For them it is a "two bird with one stone" scenario.
View attachment 21403
Hope L&T wins. Their system looks more compact and modern