A state-of-the-art facility to test ship design by examining ship models and submerged bodies in simulated sea conditions – Seakeeping and Manoeuvring Basin (SMB) – at the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) was dedicated to the nation by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar here on Saturday.
The Rs.168-crore facility for experimental hydro dynamics for testing ship models and submerged bodies built for use by the Indian Navy could be used even by civilian ship builders, the Defence Minister said, congratulating the scientists and staff of the NSTL for building the facility. SMB helps test models to predict seakeeping and manoeuvring performance of newly designed ships and submerged bodies under different environmental conditions and for optimising the motion characteristics of the hull form and effectiveness of the control devices under various manoeuvres.
SMB is the latest as far as technology is concerned and is on par with any of the commercially available equipment across the world.
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The facility was designed and developed using Indian equipment.
Expendable decoy
The Minister formally handed over the Advanced Anti-Torpedo Defence System, ‘Maareech’, designed and developed by the NSTL, to the Indian Navy. He also handed over an expendable decoy to Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R.K. Dhowan. Already, 40 systems have been manufactured and are being deployed in Navy ships. The highly advanced system goes to prove that India is capable of producing even high level of technology, the Minister pointed out.
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Varunastra – the heavy torpedo – designed and developed by the NSTL had already gone through user evaluation trials and is waiting for clearance to go into production.
The good coordination between the Navy and the DRDO is worth emulating, the Minister said, referring to the projects delivered by the NSTL and urged the DRDO to ensure that future projects were integrated with users.
The NSTL, using the concurrent technology model, has been working closely with users and manufacturers to ensure minimum lag in acceptance and production, Outstanding Scientist and Director, NSTL, C.D. Malleswar said.
The Defence Minister also gave away the DRDO Technology Awards for the year 2013 on the occasion.
Secretary Defence (DRDO) S. Christopher, Director-General, Naval Systems and Materials, Subhash Chandra Sati, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Member of Parliament from Visakhapatnam K. Haribabu, Visakha North MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju and scientists from various DRDO establishments were present.
Advanced Anti-Torpedo Defence System, ‘Maareech’, handed
over to Navy