The Hindu Business Line : DRDL seeks 2,000 acres for expansion

THE Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) here has decided to expand its infrastructure facilities to take up new programmes, including the hypersonic cruise vehicles development project.

The Defence Lab has already approached the State Government for 2,000 acres of contiguous land on the outskirts of the city, close to its laboratories, for the expansion facilities, said Mr Prahlada, DRDL Director and Outstanding Scientist of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The hypersonic cruise vehicles, which would fly at speeds of Mach 6-7 (about 6,000-7,000 kmph), would have applications in military, space and civilian sector. They would require facilities such as aerodynamics, combustion, computational fluid dynamics, propulsion etc. The DRDL hopes to begin test flights from 2007 onwards.

The Andhra Pradesh Government is perusing the DRDL proposal and a positive response is awaited . The project has already got the okay for research and development. At present the US, France, UK, Russia, Australia and China are some of the countries pursuing hypersonic technology, Mr Prahlada told newspersons on Tuesday on the eve of the Technology Day.

The DRDL is recruiting scientists and engineers for the programme and a network of national institutes, laboratories and universities are being brought together to collaborate. Even some non-resident Indians (NRIs) are showing interest, he said.

On the country's missile programme, Mr Prahlada said Akash, Trishul and Nag have completed development tests. The user trials are targeted to be completed and the DRDO is working hard to get the letter of intent (LOI) from the Defence forces by the end of 2005. Agni and Prithvi are already under production and induction.

The DRDL is also actively working on the development of the long range `Astra' missile, for which the Centre has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore and 100 flights, the first of which is scheduled early 2006.

In addition to DRDL, other Defence labs like the Research Centre Imarat , Advanced Systems Laboratory , Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory are participating in an exhibition put up on the occasion of Technology Day on May 11.

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