On December 30, 2020, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) & Indian Navy successfully conducted the maiden trial of ‘SAHAYAK-NG’ which is India’s 1st indigenously designed and developed Air Droppable Container. It was dropped from IL 38SD aircraft of the Indian Navy at Coast of Goa.This is a first-of-its-kind trial involving mission critical systems.
i.2 DRDO Laboratories – Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh & Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra, Uttar Pradesh developed SAHAYAK-NG, Private company Avantel was also involved in the project for GPS (Global Positioning System) Integration.
ii.SAHAYAK-NG will reduce the requirement of ships to come close to the coast for collecting spare & stores.
iii.SAHAYAK-NG is an advanced version of SAHAYAK-Mk I and is aided by GPS.
iv.It is capable of carrying payloads of upto 50 Kgs and can be dropped from heavy aircraft.
v.Satellite-based Reporting Terminal (SBRT) of SAHAYAK-NG will provides its precise GPS location enabling the ship in distress to pick up critical stores.
Note – The three major types of air drop are low-velocity airdrop, high-velocity air drop and free fall air drop.
Significance:
i.The container will increase operational logistics capabilities of the Indian Navy.
ii.It will provide critical engineering stores to ships which are deployed more than 2000 kms from the Indian coast.
Indian Army receives Bridges developed by DRDO and L&T:
i.On December 30, 2020 Indian Army received 3 sets of 10-metre short span bridges developed & manufactured by DRDO in partnership with Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T).
ii.The bridges were handed over to Indian Army at L&T’s facility at Talegaon, Maharashtra.
iii.It will help the army to enhance its mobility by speedy bridging of gaps during operations. It is also a step towards making the armed forces to be self-dependent.
Note – It is developed by DRDO’s Pune based facility, the Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), which is part of the Pune-headquartered Armament and Combat Engineering technology cluster.
Recent Related News:
i.On October 1, 2020 DRDO successfully test fired the Indigenously developed Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) at KK Ranges in Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACC&S) in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
About Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO):
Chairman – Dr G Satheesh Reddy
Headquarters – New Delhi
