DRDO computers ‘hacked’

The computers of highly-sensitive Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have reportedly been hacked.

The hacking is suspected to have been carried out by Chinese hackers and there are fears that some sensitive information could have been compromised.

When asked about it, Defence Minister A K Antony said, “Intelligence agencies are investigating the matter at this stage and I do not want to say anything else.”

The Minister was asked if the DRDO computer networks containing sensitive information were hacked and if information was compromised.

Commenting on the issue, DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said, “as per our information, no computer or network of the DRDO has been compromised.”

In the past also, such incidents have occurred and the Defence Ministry has taken several actions to stop the hacking of sensitive information pertaining to armed forces.

Recently, the Navy had to take action against some of its officers in the Eastern Command after their networks were hacked as they did not follow the standard operating procedures.

via Business Line.

700 scientists quit DRDO in last six years, defence minister says

Almost 700 scientists have quit the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which has a network of over 50 labs and establishments around the country, in the last six years. Significantly, it’s the younger scientists and not the senior ones who have left for greener pastures.

Defence minister A K Antony, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, disclosed that while 637 scientists had resigned from the DRDO during the 2007-2011 time frame, 50 more had quit this year till October 31.

“Scientists who have resigned indicated their personal/domestic grounds as the reasons. However, it is assumed that increased opportunities/incentives available in other organizations/industries is the main reason,” the minister said.

Often criticized for huge time and cost overruns in crucial defence and strategic projects, the ranging from development of missiles to fighter aircraft, DRDO has over 7,500 scientists on its rolls. Insiders say that more than the number of resignations, it is the failure to attract ‘quality’ scientists and engineers from institutes like IITs in sufficient numbers that is the real problem. “Bright youngsters from top-notch domestic or foreign institutions are simply not coming to the DRDO,” said one.

Antony said “corrective measures” had been put in place. “to stem the flow of resignations. These range from fast-track promotions through assessments and two additional increments on each promotion to excellent infrastructure facilities and opportunities to acquire higher qualifications at reputed institutes like the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science as DRDO-sponsored candidates.

The government is making all efforts to grant performance-related incentive scheme to DRDO scientists, on par with scientists of the department of atomic energy and Isro,” he said.

-via The Times of India.

Irregularities galore in functioning of DRDO

The CAG on Thursday pointed out “deficiencies” and “procedural irregularities” committed by DRDO in taking up new projects and splitting sanctions for them to bring it within financial powers of the organisation head. “Scrutiny of project sanctions issued by DRDO revealed procedural irregularities relating to misleading nomenclature of sanction issuing authorities, absence of database of sanctions and splitting of sanctions,” the CAG said in its report tabled in the Parliament.

The report further said that the audit findings underscore that efforts of the Defence Ministry to bring in transparency and objectivity in functioning of its departments remain unachieved as of now.

The CAG also noted that financial powers of Director General, DRDO and Secretary, Defence Research and Development were enhanced to the range of Rs25 crore to Rs50 crore and Rs60 crore to Rs75 crore respectively and both these offices are held by one person only.

“Audit of sanctions revealed non-adherence with established norms and procedures for issue, circulation and recording of sanctions authorising expenditure out of public funds for various purposes,” the report said.

On the splitting of sanctions, the Government auditor said, “We observed that after the enhanced delegation of financial powers in July 2010, sanctions were split up to bring them within the delegated financial powers of the DG R and D (DRDO chief) that is up to Rs50 crore in consultation with the Integrated Financial Adviser.”

The CAG noted that in some cases, the cost of DRDO projects was brought down below Rs50 crore by reducing the number of deliverables and curtailing its scope enabling the DG, DRDO to issue the sanction within his delegated powers. The project cases cited by the CAG included the Project Akashdeep of DRDO for developing indigenous Aerostat radars and Project ADITYA for the vehicles mounted high power laser directed energy weapons.

-via The Pioneer

Indian Navy afflicted with common defence diseases: Hopelessly low indigenisation and criminal cost overruns

C Uday Bhaskar.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while addressing Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists in Delhi on July 31, drew timely attention to a perennial shortcoming of the Indian defence R&D and production sector: the low level of truly indigenous content in major platforms and the huge time and cost overruns.

While commending the DRDO for its contribution and the success achieved in high-visibility items such as the Agni V missile, Singh, in his characteristically low-key manner, noted with commendable candour, “The reality is that the share of indigenous content in defence procurement continues to be low. We need to take a hard look at the pipeline of our projects and focus our time and material resources on selected areas where we have demonstrated capacity to deliver projects within reasonable time and cost.”

Established in 1958, the DRDO is over 50 years old and acquired its institutional credibility and relevance under the stewardship of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when India was placed under a severe US-led technology denial regime after the peaceful nuclear test of May 1974.

Predictably, the national strategic military capability received the highest priority and the country’s current missile and nuclear weapon profile was enabled due to the perseverance shown by the techno-scientific leadership of those decades that included Raja Ramanna, V S Arunachalam and Abdul Kalam who headedthe DRDO during a challenging period.

However, there are many areas where the DRDO has not been able to deliver as envisaged and the big-ticket items that are still stuck as it were include the main battle tank for the army and the light combat aircraft for the air force. Despite its progress in other sectors, India’s truly indigenous defence production is woefully inadequate and the country has the dubious distinction of having a one-million-plus army but is unable to produce its own artillery gun – and the Bofors syndrome has afflicted the entire defence procurement and production edifice.

There is a perception, albeit misplaced, that it is only in the case of naval ship design and production that India has been able to make commendable strides, and that the Indian Navy is ahead of its larger peers – the army and the air force – as far as indigenisation is concerned. The commissioning of the stealth frigate, the INS Sahayadri, on July 21 in Mumbai is illustrative of this dominant perception.

The 6,300-tonne Sahayadri is the second in a series of three guided-missile frigates with stealth characteristics built at Mumbai’s defence public sector Mazagon Docks and epitomises the observation made by the Prime Minister. Estimated to cost Rs 10,000 crore, the three frigates will undoubtedly add muscle to the Indian Navy, and defence minster A K Antony exhorted the shipbuilding fraternity to rise to the challenge and asserted, “The country’s warship-building programme must meet the Navy’s force-level requirements. Over the years, there has been a gradual shift from being a buyer’s navy to a builder’s navy.”

Antony added that Indian shipbuilding must benchmark itself against the best international practices and urged the private sector to join in this endeavour. This, alas, is where the plot thickens, in a not-so-flattering manner.

The stealth frigate project is one of many ambitious procurement programmes that the Indian Navy has embarked upon and is portrayed as an example of India gradually making the transition from a ‘buyer to a builder.’ However the reality is more modest. A warship is indexed by the credibility and potency of its ordnance punch, precision guidance, surveillance and propulsion capabilities. A closer examination of the equipment fitted on the INS Sahayadri reveals that barring the electronic warfare kit and the sonar, every other significant inventory item – be it guns, missiles, radars or the engines – are all imported, with Russia, Israel and France being the major suppliers.

As the Prime Minister correctly observed, the indigenous content of major Indian military platforms is woefully low. And as for benchmarking them against the best international practices, the contrast is even more dismal.

The Sahayadri took over nine years from the laying of the keel to the commissioning – March 2003 to July 2012 – and this has become the norm for building a major naval ship in India. The first ship in the guided-missile destroyer class, the 6,800-tonne INS Delhi, took almost 10 years from keel to commissioning – and this is indicative of the timelines that prevail in Indian shipyards.

The track record for comparable ships in other countries is: China four years and Japan three years. Time overruns invariably translate into cost overruns and the fact that Indianyards take more than double the time to deliver a ship to the Navy does not augur well for the future.

By current reckoning, the country will allocate upwards of Rs 1,00,000 crore for naval shipbuilding over the next 10 years in domestic yards and clearly, the current indigenisation-cum-cost and time indicators need drastic and determined improvement.

This can happen only if the reality is accepted that there is an ‘emperor’s new clothes’ syndrome at play as far as the country’s defence production sector is concerned. The Tatra vehicle scandal is the tip of a murky iceberg of make-believe and this virus is widespread in other domains.

An objective techno-commercial and politico-strategic audit of the country’s naval ship and submarine building is called for. Placing the sequestered Rama Rao committee report that reviewed the DRDO in the public domain will be a very useful starting point.

-via The Economic Times.

DRDO spending crores, but no positive outcome

Bhupendra Chaubey.

The Defence Research and Development organisation, country’s premier body for development of defence related technology, has allegedly spent crores of rupees in the name of expenditure on technology, but there has been no positive outcome.

A top secret audit of DRDO ordered by Defence Minister AK Antony has revealed that there is virtual lack of transparency in decision making mechanism in the organisation, which was created to look after country’s defence needs. With a budget of over Rs 10,000 crore DRDO has enjoyed full mandate from successive governments for over six decades.

The audit accessed by CNN-IBN reveals that financial sanctions are being split so that they don’t have to go to higher authorities. Programme for development of main battle tank Arjun was sanctioned at Rs 69.99 crore. However, the entire programme was split into smaller sub-heads so that higher ups within the system could be avoided.

The fact that projects under DRDO have been delayed extensively is well known. Now the report also raises questions about how the DRDO is taking decisions.

Product support and product improvement of NAG weapon system was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 28.35 crore, despite the fact that the Cabinet Committee on Security approved similar programme was still in the pipeline.

The cost of UAV and aerostat was brought down just to ensure that no higher authority could question the financial approval given.

Several split sanctions were also issued for renovation of DRDO Bhawan while unauthorised sanction of Rs 49.15 crore to develop vehicle testing facility from public accounts mainly for civilian use was also granted.

The report further says that a project for development of satellite signal monitoring was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 29.96 crore without any formal requirement from the defence services. While the project was still on, a sanction of Rs 24.5 crore was given for procurement of a similar technology.

There have been several arbitrary costing of products under garb of development like sanction of Rs 14.5 crore for development of four stroke cylinder engine technology. But the parties chosen by the DRDO didn’t have adequate research capabilities. The report goes on to say that the DRDO has facilitated entry of foreign companies in certain areas and the projects being undertaken are not for development but for the entry of foreign vendors.

The report says that Dr VK Saraswat gave an improper approval for a grant of Rs 2.8 crore to a society which he heads himself. Further scrutiny even revealed that the body which got the aid didn’t have expert manpower.

Several irregularities have also been detected in appointment of chairpersons of different organisations with huge amounts being spent on it.

However, the defence minister has refused to react to these findings.

On the other hand the DRDO has refuted the allegations.

“DRDO strongly refutes observations made in the report and is in the process of compiling its responses despite the fact that the findings of audit already stand vitiated. Since laid down procedure was not followed and the report was issued without authorisation, the matter is under examination and correspondence with the concerned. All laid down procedures are being followed by DRDO in a transparent manner and interests of the State are the sole consideration during the process of decision making,” said DRDO Director Ravi Gupta.

Now through this report questions are being raised about how DRDO is taking decisions.

-via IBNLive

MoD audit questions DRDO functioning

Pradip R Sagar.

Years after the CAG tore into DRDO and its functioning, a special audit has once again exposed the organisation and its chief, VK Saraswat, blaming him for passing on funds to a society in a clear case of conflict of interest.

The audit, conducted on the orders of defence minister AK Antony, has come down on the ‘arbitrary’ functioning of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation).

The audit has highlighted questionable approval by scientific advisor to defence minister, Saraswat, of grant- in-aid of Rs2.9 crore to an academic institution he heads.

According to the report, accessed by the DNA, Saraswat sanctioned a grant of Rs2.88 crore to Hyderabad-based Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (AIMCS) for research of futuristic radar systems.

Raising infirmities in the sanction, the audit report says, “AIMCS comprises scientists known for their achievement in mathematics, statistics and computer sciences and is not even generally connected with research relating to futuristic radars. And it (AIMCS) does not have any equipment and other wherewithal to undertake such research and development.”

The report says DRDO’s Bangalore-based LRDE (Electronics and Radar Development Establishment) is specifically meant for the evolution of the technologies relating to radars and has required number of scientists and equipment for conducting research of radars.

“It was thus strange to entrust this work to a Hyderabad-based academic institute. Further scrutiny has revealed as the grantee body did not have expert manpower, it started recruiting them after getting money from DRDO, which was liberally disbursed on annual basis.”

The report claims that release of advance payment to the society even for salary in respect of non-existent manpower blocks government funds and provides an opportunity to private society to earn ‘interest income’.

“DRDO is hiring a consultant and the consultant is also planning to hire consultants. This does not seem to be reasonable. Whether recruited personnel had DRDO connection needs to be seen further.”

The internal audit report prepared by senior additional controller general of defence account (ACGDA-Internal audit) maintained that DRDO has undertaken research project relating to radars and part of this research project was offloaded to a private society.

“As such it is only a sub-project of a main project. These facts were not however brought out in the file concerned.”

Interestingly, the report has also questioned another grant-in-aid of Rs3 crore to Dr SB Rao of the same institute, who is co-principal investigator under this radar research project. “A comparison of cost estimates between two projects suggested the possibility of different norms being adopted for costing and possible duplication.”

-via DNA

Cut Throttle

-via Livefist

Land scams mark 2010 for armed forces

The Defence Ministry and the Armed Forces were stung by the scam in Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai involving top serving and retired generals in 2010, leading to the case being handed over to CBI for investigating the rot in the system of defence land management.

Former army chiefs General Deepak Kapoor and General N C Vij, along with retired navy chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh, were named as some of the beneficiaries of the 31-storey apartment building that reportedly came up on an army land within the security perimeter of critical naval installations in upscale Colaba.

After the navy leadership in Mumbai shot off a letter to the Defence Ministry seeking a probe, it came to light that some serving army officers had allowed the building to come up in 2003 right under the military authorities’ nose, leading to the ministry asking CBI to probe the case.

Separately, the army also ordered a court of inquiry against serving officers, including the then Mumbai Area Army commander Maj Gen R K Hooda.

That apart, the Sukna land scam in West Bengal in which some top army officers from the military station in Siliguri district had issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) to a private builder for constructing an educational institution continued to keep the defence brass on the tight rope.

After a court of inquiry, Kapoor, who retired in March last year, had to order disciplinary action against his Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, who too had retired just about a month earlier.

Court martial was also ordered against Prakash, as also Lt Gen P K Rath, who was the station commander when the Sukna land NOC was issued to the private builder in 2009.

These land scams apart, Army’s then Engineer-in-Chief Lt Gen A K Nanda had to face allegations of misbehaving with the wife of another officer junior to him during an official visit to Israel in April last year.

A court of inquiry ordered into the allegations against Nanda said the charges could not be proved beyond doubt against him, but he did behave in a manner that went against service conduct.

DRDO too had failures in its efforts to develop weapon systems for the Armed Forces after nuclear-capable Prithvi-II 350-km range and Agni-II Plus ballistic missiles went dud during tests.

-via The Economic Times

Not just jets, missiles too cost a bomb

Fighters, submarines or tanks may grab all the eyeballs but other military hardware also costs a packet. Over the next five years, the armed forces will induct three advanced surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems for well over Rs 30,000 crore.

Latest status reports peg the R&D costs and orders placed for the Akash system at a staggering Rs 19,182 crore. While the joint DRDO-IAI project cost for LR-SAM to arm naval warships is Rs 2,606 crore, the MR-SAM for IAF is worth Rs 10,076 crore. Akash systems are already on course to be inducted, with the IAF order being worth Rs 6,200 crore and the Army’s Rs 12,402 crore.

The 70-km-range LR-SAM project in turn, is slated for completion by May 2012. In the first phase, it will arm three destroyers for Rs 11,662 crore.

Interestingly, though IAI has been dogged by some controversy — ranging from kickback allegations to exorbitant business charges — the government has refused to blacklist the firm on the ground that it will prove “counter-productive” due to the “crucial” projects that are underway.

-via The Times of India

DRDO employees threaten strike

All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), which represents 4.5 lakh defence and civilian employees, threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday. The AIDEF employees are protesting against the defence ministry’s approval for private sector participation in defence technology in order to revitalise the DRDO and give a major boost to defence research. “We will fight tooth and nail against any such government decision. We are putting the Indian defence industry on its death bed and killing research in the name of restructuring DRDO,” said SN Pathak, president, AIDEF.

The restructuring will follow the recommendations of two review panels, one headed by former secretary in the department of science and technology, P Rama Rao, and the other, chaired by defence secretary Pradeep Kumar. The Rao committee was set up in February 2007 to suggest steps to improve the functioning of the DRDO, after legislators raised a furore over delayed projects and cost over-runs.

Among the projects running behind schedule is the development of the Light Combat Aircraft, the Kaveri engine and an interception, monitoring, direction finding and analysis system, known as ‘Divyadrishti’. Tactical Communication System (TCS) modernisation has also been delayed for years. “The government is acting under the pressure of Indian industry lobbies, lead by CII, FICCI, Assocham, multinational corporations and foreign lobbies, who are eager to snatch the increasing defence budget and earn their profits,” said Mr Pathak.

The federation plans to start a series of agitation programmes such as demonstrations, dharnas and hunger strikes, culminating in a one-day general strike by DRDO unions, if the government fails to settle all the pending demands of the employees, including the withdrawal of the decision to reorganise DRDO. DRDO’s top management said that public private partnership is the way ahead as the defence demand of the country is increasing and the government alone cannot meet this demand. “We spend Rs 50,000 crore on defence acquisitions abroad every year.

We have to become self reliant. Revamping the DRDO, collaborations and joint ventures with the private sector is the way ahead to achieve this goal,” said a top DRDO official, who did not wish to be quoted. “This strategy won’t have any impact on employees, as the work includes within the government and outside the government circle,” he added. The federation fears a reduction in the number of employees at DRDO as a result of the restructuring programme. “At present, there are around 7,000 top scientists and 27,000 group C and group D employees in the DRDO and once the commercialisation of the defence agency takes place, this will drop,” said Saila Bhattacharya, AIDEF general secretary.

Under the recommendations of Dr P Ramrao Committee report on DRDO, the government had in May decided to revamp the DRDO into 7 cluster groups. Some of DRDO’s 51 laboratories across the country will be merged with other public-funded institutions that have similar interests and administrative structures. AIDEF said that the decision by the government to throw 11 out of 51 DRDO laboratories including laboratories in Mysore, Kanpur, Tejpur and Gwalior and merge them with Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), is also a serious concern.

India is set to spend about US$ 200 billion on defence acquisitions over the next 12 years to replace its outdated Soviet-vintage inventory. According to a study by the India Strategic defence magazine, nearly half of this funding, or $100 billion, will go to the Indian Air Force (IAF) which would need to replace more than half of its combat jet fleet as well as the entire transport aircraft and helicopter fleet. The army needs new guns, tanks, rocket launchers, multi-terrain vehicles while the navy needs ships, aircraft carriers, an entire new range of propeller and nuclear-armed submarines.

-via The Economic Times