Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Keltron) Group of companies has an order value for projects worth around ₹160 crore for the Indian Navy, according to Keltron managing director Sreekumar Nair.
He was speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the flag-off of two underwater arrays for Maareech, the Indian Navy’s Advanced Torpedo Decoy System (ATDS), manufactured by Keltron Controls at Aroor, on Monday. The projects are in various stages of execution at the facilities in Thiruvananthapuram, Aroor, and Kuttipuram.
Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bengaluru, has placed an order with Keltron for delivering 11 underwater arrays at an estimated cost of ₹4.50 crore per array. “We have facilities for manufacturing underwater arrays at Keltron Controls at Aroor. We manufacture them based on the design of the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratories [NPOL] and decoys on the design of Naval Science and Technology Lab, Visakhapatnam. We have so far delivered nine arrays. Two more are in the process of manufacturing. Order for another 11 arrays is likely by the end of next month. The entire lot of 22 arrays would be delivered by the end of next year,” said Mr. Nair.
The Maareech-ATDS is used to detect, classify and offer counter-measures against an impending torpedo attack on the ship equipped with Maareech. The system consists of a linear towed receiver array with appropriate length towed using heavy tow cables for the detection of torpedo signatures, decoy module for decoying of torpedoes, a hydraulically operated winch system for handling the array and tow cable, hull-mounted array sensor data interface, and on-board electronics and system software for signal processing, display and recording of information from the array.
“A range of tests are carried out before delivering the arrays to BEL since they are towed by ships at a depth of over 200 metres. Further, our team will be present at the time of its integration with processing components manufactured by BEL and then again at the installation in ships and trials,” said Mr. Nair.
In the defence sector, Keltron focuses predominantly in the field of underwater domain awareness and collaborates with the Indian Navy, NPOL, NSTL , BEL, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, academic institutions, and start-ups. The systems for underwater applications that Keltron manufactures with these collaborations include log (speed measuring), echo sounder (depth measuring), various arrays and power amplifier for sonars, transducer for sonars, and distress and obstacle avoidance systems.
