All the Scientific Advisors are undoubtedly outstanding people in their own fields of professional endeavour, but time and again it was demonstrated that many of the decisions they took, did not contribute any thing to the cause of achieving self reliance in aeronautics
To help achieve coordination among the R&D institutions, Prof Menon around the same time in 1976, broadly delineated responsibilities among the Aeronautical Development Establishment, National Aerospace Laboratories and the Gas Turbine Research Establishment. ADE was asked to undertake R&D relevant to the various aeronautical systems, NAL, the R&D related to the airframe, and GTRE, the engine development.
NAL over the years developed adequate capability to handle composite materials in anticipation of potential future requirements for building airframe structures. It was also clear that the development of any future advanced technology fighter aircraft with high manoeuvrability would require knowledge of the so called, Fly By Wire (FBW) control systems. ADE did not take this assigned responsibility seriously. The matter was also raised at an HAL board meeting because of its importance in the future development of any fighter aircraft. The representative from the South Block shot it down saying that it would be infructuous expenditure if the government did not sanction such a program. The fact of the matter was that the technical people on the board knew that this technology would be essential for any future advanced technology fighter aircraft development, and that its non availability would cause avoidable delays.
HAL, ADE and NAL put up a joint proposal to the government to develop this technology. It was not approved. The result was that when the LCA was approved by the Cabinet in July 1983, we did not have this technology and had to go to the US to obtain it. When India exploded the nuclear bombs in May 1998, Clinton put an embargo, resulting in all a five year delay. Errors in judgment at these levels do not come cheap. As a matter fact, after the embargo was imposed ADE, NAL and HAL jointly developed this technology, something that was proposed at the HAL board meeting earlier and rejected ! Put plainly, a professionally ignorant person’s objection cost the nation about a five year delay and Rs 750 crores. Such mistakes are unforgiving.
GTRE efforts to develop the gas turbine engine GTX 35, did not get the kind of support it needed. This could have helped much in understanding the technical complexities in gas turbine development. Engine design is even more complicated than airframe design. As mentioned to me by a Pratt and Whitney engineer, the engine designers are a mafia and they depend on an enormous amount of test data they generate to develop advanced technology gas turbines. This was not appreciated by the administrators in the South Block, and they denied the necessary support to GTRE to develop a suitable engine in time. In fact I had to tell the Defence Minister in 1985, that at least for the first thirty to forty LCA’s, we have to import engines, and that GTRE may well require consultants from abroad to successfully design an engine, suitable for the LCA.
If there are any lessons to be learned from the past history, we need to again bear in mind the successful functioning of the Space and Atomic Energy Commissions which demonstrated our capability to develop technologically sophisticated hardware. There is intrinsic capability in aeronautics also.
All the Scientific Advisors are undoubtedly outstanding people in their own fields of professional endeavour, but time and again it was demonstrated that many of the decisions they took, did not contribute any thing to the cause of achieving self reliance in aeronautics and in fact some of their decisions had disastrous consequences. The less said about the administrators in the South Block in this context, the better it is. Put plainly these gentlemen were out of their depth in such matters. A classic example was the decision taken by one of the scientific advisors on spurious considerations, to ease out Raj Mahindra, who had years of hands on experience in the design of aircraft in UK and here, and was then working in ADA on the LCA program, as its chief architect. Much of the conceptual design of the LCA was done by him.
Typically, after getting an engineering degree, a good designer needs years and years of hands on experience, before he can take independent responsibility to design any advanced technology aircraft. Mahindra had it, and demonstrate this capability. Such people are hard to come by. Easing out Mahindra, the architect of the LCA conceptual design, and without any trained understudies, was another disastrous mistake committed by the South Block. Furthermore, when ADA was conceived, it was expected to be a funding, managing and monitoring organization, with the primary responsibility for its development resting with HAL, and the various R&D institutions functioning in a supporting mode under the auspices of ADA. Instead, the then Scientific Advisor assigned the primary responsibility for the LCA development to ADA, and in essence set it up as a competitor to HAL. It was again an unfortunate decision resulting in avoidable delay.
If there are any lessons to be learned from the past history, we need to again bear in mind the successful functioning of the Space and Atomic Energy Commissions which demonstrated our capability to develop technologically sophisticated hardware. There is intrinsic capability in aeronautics also. If the government wishes to obtain any self reliance in aeronautics, it is essential to integrate under one authority, the Aeronautics Commission, all the relevant R&D and the manufacturing organisations and have it headed by a technically competent person who is also the secretary to the government to the depart of Aeronautics, in the Ministry of Defence.
The Commission shall have under its authority, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), charged with the responsibility for research, design and development of aircraft, to plan and achieve long term objectives, and the Aircraft Production Agency (APA) charged with the responsibility for the manufacture of aircraft. It is essential that ADA be headed by a Director General who is a professionally competent person, and familiar with the various aspects of research, development and design of advance technology aircraft. This shall be headed by a serving air marshal as its Director General. Without such an integration, there is no hope what so ever of achieving even a measure of self reliance in aeronautics, a crucial sector for our defence preparedness in the foreseeable future if it were to be intent of the government.
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