Indian Navy gets innovative tech for warships, more in the offing

From fire-fighting bots onboard aircraft carriers and lightweight fire-fighting suits to swarms for mine-sweeping and portable metal-cutters without the oxyacetylene gases – the Indian Navy has embraced a set of new home-grown niche technologies and more are in the offing.

The Navy issued the Acceptance of Necessity – the first stage of military purchase – for 12 such products developed by Indian medium and small-scale enterprises and start-ups, and AON for another dozen technologies might be finalised in the next quarter.

“The AON for 12 products costing around Rs 1,500 crore has been finalised and contracts worth Rs 200 crore have been signed. Another set of AONs are likely for such innovative products in the next few weeks,” Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Sanjay J Singh said here on Wednesday.

The products were developed under a dedicated government-backed programme to spur research in medium and small-scale enterprises and start-ups with the Indian Navy collaborating with the industry to come out with such technologies.

One of the exciting new technologies is carbon nanofibre-based firefighting suits that weigh just 1.8 kg instead of the standard 18.5 kg suit. The suit can withstand temperatures from minus 200 degrees Celsius to 1,000 plus degrees Celsius, protecting a person from extreme heat or cold.

Also, a person wearing the suit doesn’t produce any heat signature making him invisible to infrared sensors. This opens up the possibility of using it for other security applications.

Because of its heat signature absorption capability, the Army and Air Force have also shown interest in the suit, which is under operational trials.

The innovative metal cutter uses plasma to cut through 10 mm of steel within minutes. Once the product is absorbed, the warships may not have to store a large quantity of poisonous oxyacetylene onboard the ships to take care of emergencies.

Many such innovative technologies will be displayed next week at a conference titled Swavlamban at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi. A new indigenisation roadmap will also be issued to the industry.

Singh said in the last year, the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation in collaboration with the MSME, industry and academia came out with 75 niche technologies, which will be absorbed once the products are ready. However, developing a product from the technology takes time.

Under a dedicated programme to create such innovative products, the government received 1106 proposals of which 118 firms were selected as winners. The ministry provided Rs 1.5 crore grants to 113 companies and Rs 10 crore to five to develop the products using innovative technologies.