R&D group is in the final stages of testing state-of-the-art unmanned vehicles for the defence forces
Chennai: Providing best-in-class technological knowhow for the Indian Army, the Chennai-based Combat Vehicles Research Development Establishment (CVRDE) of Ministry of Defence has developed an advanced electronic controlled power pack for Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) which virtually nullify chances of human causalities and enable soldiers to tackle dangerous situations better.
Currently, the technology is going through the last-leg of trails in Mahajan field firing range in Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The UGVs are designed to be deployed for surveillance, mine detection missions and Nuclear Biological Chemical (NBC) reconnaissance, CVRDE Director Dr P. Shivkumar told Deccan Chronicle.
Dr Shivkumar said the new power pack comes with state-of-art 400 HP diesel engine with automatically controlled transmission, which provides clutchless operation. “With the development of power pack component, our UGV programme called MUNTRA (Mission Unmanned Tracked) has almost come to a close. All vehicles are based on the battle proven BMP-2 class tracked vehicles”.
Dr M. Khader Basha, additional director (transmission), CVRDE, said that besides automatic transmission, the power pack is fitted with indigenously developed cooling system, air filtration system and hydrostatic steering system, which will enable the vehicle to turn 360 degrees on its own axis. Also, the power pack comes with 15 KV generator that will give the vehicle enough power to continue with the operation for a continuous eight hours.
“This is will be extremely useful in mine detection missions where the vehicle has to move slowly with ground penetrating sensors in operation”. The official said the power pack is configured and integrated in partnership with Indian manufacturer Larsen and Turbo (L&T). “The DRDO provides the technical guidance and the L&T will do the vehicle modifications, buy components and integrate them. The electro mechanical activation, which is one of the operations, has been developed by L&T themselves”.
Dr Basha said the technology has already been test evaluated in dynamometer in Avadi and the fully integrated system is currently undergoing trails in Rajasthan desert. “During the trails, we will explore all the key performance parameters of the vehicle like drivability, cross country etc. Importantly, this technology has a separate entity has abundant potential for application in existing BMP-1 and BMP-2 battle tanks considering its unique features”.
