MI2Watch: Tippu’s land gives birth to missile self destruction device

Bengaluru, Feb 27: A desi missile safe destruction programme developed by Mysuru-based MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise) Kaynes Technology is currently under evaluation.

Christened ESAFS (Electronic Safe Arm and Fire System), the devise helps the self destruction of a missile, during its testing and actual operational phases. Missile(s) that veer off from its intended trajectory can be brought down immediately with the help of ESAFS. The company is in the field of defence for the last eight years.

ESAFS is now under evaluation at DRDO's Research Centre Imarat (RCI) laboratory in Hyderabad. RCI is one of the leading labs under DRDO's Missile Complex.

In an exclusive interview to OneIndia (during the just-concluded Aero India 2015), Lt Col Sharath Bhat (Retd), Senior Vice President, Business Development, Kaynes Technology, said that ESAFS, is a real-time, dual-redundant and fault-tolerant on-board devise.

ESAFS can pick up signals that are unauthorised or unrecognised in nature. It consists of two identical controller cards and one power supply card for distributing power supply requirements of both controller cards.

Shock compliant system

All the three cards are inter-connected through stackable connectors. ESAFS is tamper proof and Electromagnetic Interference/Compatibility (EMI/EMC) compliant. The system is also thermal, humidity, vibration and shock compliant.

Interestingly, Tippu Sultan, the then King of Mysore, is believed to be the early brains to have developed home-grown missile technologies. He is said to have fired a two-km-range missile against the invading British troops as well.

With 1200 employees, Kaynes Technology has one dedicated defence manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, with 150 people involved in the design and development activities. The company turnover stands at Rs 340 crore now.

"In addition to the Mysuru facility, the company has seven factories in India, one design center in Bengaluru and one service center in Mumbai. Our overseas offices are situated in Zurich and Hamburg," adds Sharath.

Most-preferred supplier to BEL

The company has been the most-preferred supplier to Bharat Electronics Ltd. "We are the first company to sign a long term MoU for manufacturing of electronics sub- system for BEL's naval wing. We are also working for overseas companies for offset programmes, including torpedoes, SAM (surface to air missile) systems and Sukhoi commercial airline project," says Sharath.

He said the Make in India mission will take the local manufacturing companies to a world class level.

"Today there is a huge market for electronic goods in India and we have to address the same by improving the infrastructure and supply chain. As an MSME, we play an important player in the aerospace and defence segment. This Aero India, we saw a change in the type of enquiries we received. There is lot of positive interest which will turn into actual orders," he said.

Today, 30 per cent of Kaynes' products are being exported to the US, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Australia, Malaysia and China.

Among the exported products are mission critical signalling systems for railways, home security solutions, heating systems, parking systems and track circuits.

Kaynes Technologies has also developed an innovative Bluetooth bar code scanner, Bluetooth bulb and Tarangini - a water depth monitoring system.

Photos: A Veeramani

[Make in India Watch [MI2Watch] is a series on OneIndia focusing on the aerospace and defence might of India's private and domestic industries. It will also aim at capturing the voices of leaders spearheading various projects.]

(The writer is a seasoned aerospace and defence journalist in India. He is the Consultant Editor (Defence) with OneIndia. He tweets @writetake.)