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Joint ventures are the ideal arrangement for bringing in modern technology in the minimum time possible, according to A. Sivathanu Pillai, chief executive and managing director, BrahMos Aerospace.
Technology transfer is normally fraught with the danger of getting obsolete technology. Indigenisation efforts could prove to be often time-consuming.
SCIENTSTS’ SOCIETY
He said this while delivering the keynote address on the inaugural day of a national workshop on ‘Achieving excellence through lessons from successes and failures,’ at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre here.
The event also saw the launch of the Indian Society of Systems for Science and Engineering, which aims to bring together scientists and engineers to work for realisation of better technological systems.
He also narrated how the perfection of launch vehicle and missile systems were achieved through failures in the satellite launch vehicle, augmented satellite launch vehicles and Agni.
REVIEWS HELP
After seven successful flights of Agni, there was an unexpected failure which, he said, was a great learning experience. “Proper reviews help us to convert failures as an opportunity to improve on systems,” he said.
Effective review of failures of previous missile programmes helped a lot in the development and realisation of the dependable BrahMos missile.
S.C. Gupta, former director of the space centre, said that the experience of managing complex engineering projects often come in handy while dealing with the concept of system engineering.
“The human factor is the most significant factor in system engineering,” he said while inaugurating the newly formed society.
CATELOGUE NEEDED
Speaking on the occasion, B.N. Suresh, also a former director of the space centre, said that while successes often blur minor defects, failures help one to get to the bottom of the subject and afford a chance to review the whole system.
A catalogue of problems faced and corrective actions taken should be maintained in the public domain so that cross-fertilisation of ideas becomes possible, he suggested.
S. Ramakrishnan, current director of the space centre, presided over the function. He explained how difficult it is in the aerospace domain to foresee all on-flight situations on the ground.
He underlined the importance of rigorous ground testing and simulation. Eight invited lectures will discuss various case studies of failures and successes in the two-day workshop.
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