Newer technologies and changes would have to be adopted and adapted to ensure that India as a nation remains safe and secure, a senior scientist has said.
Speaking exclusively to ANI on a wide range of issues with a focus on encouraging the 580 million youth of the country who are aged 35 and below, to use their educational achievements and other skills in ensuring India's global growth in several spheres, Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller (R and D), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and CEO and MD of Brahmos Aerospace, said missile technology wise, the objective is to achieve "high speed, high power and precision."
He said BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture, is now developing hypersonic technology for the BrahMos missile which can travel at five to seven times the speed of sound.
"The company is roping in academics to develop the requisite technology before going in for designing and developing missiles which can travel at Mach 5 to 7 (five to seven times the speed of sound). It will be BrahMos II version next to the present variants of Mach 2.8 to 3.5," Dr. Pillai said.
Speaking specifically about a book "Thoughts for Change", which he has co-authored with former President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, where there is a mention of ten futuristic technologies that India can access and adapt, Dr. Pillai said the world has progressed from the stone age to the nuclear age, and in the new millenium, convergent technologies would be more relied upon as "this is a hugely useful technology".
"With bio-technology and information technology converging, this technology will provide the best thinking process... New types of robotics are coming up. In the days to come, automation will play a huge role in terms of development and soci-economic progress. The human race has spent so many years on earth, and therefore, there is always a need to migrate. Hence, we are trying to explore new options," Dr. Pillai said.
"The Brahmos missile today is of the highest quality. It has super precision. We are working on hypersonic technology, which will be the future," he added.
He revealed that Brahmos Aerospace is collaborating with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, in developing technologies for high temperature material required to build the missile, cram-jet propulsions and energy modules and the requisite algorithms.
He added that the Moscow Institute of Aviation would produce technologies for propulsion, kinetic energy modules for the hypersonic version.
In all probability, these initiatives would take a minimum of five years to crystallise, he said.
BrahMos is currently working on blueprints for setting up a production centre, choice of vendors for supply of necessary components and investment structure.
The next step is to develop missiles that can come back to the originating mode after destroying designated targets, he said.
