The Kochi-based DRDO lab Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) has awarded Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (KELTRON) the contract for the manufacture and supply of Sonar Simulators. The roughly $ 1.3 million deal will entail the manufacture and supply of Sonar Simulators which will be instrumental in training ship and submarine operators of Indian navy.
The Sonar Simulators which KELTRON will manufacture and supply has actually been designed by the DRDO lab NPOL itself. DRDO lab NPOL has bestowed various advancements in naval systems and helped India achieve technological superiority in naval and oceanographic fields and its applications. As for KELTRON, it has been providing a slew of naval systems and products to the Indian Navy since 1980s.
Regarding the NPOL designed electronic simulator with advanced features and technology, it will be manufactured at the KELTRON unit near Kochi. The Sonar Simulator System will be used at the various Indian Navy centers to train their operators.
As for the modus operandi, a 'real life' scenario will be conjured by the simulator and it similar commands and operating tools will be used to make the interface user-friendly for the operator. This will enable ease of operation to the naval personnel who will operate the actual system on the ship or submarine.
The sonar systems which the DRDO lab NPOL has designed and created in the past has been crucial for naval ships and submarines to detect the other ships, submarines, torpedoes, under water missiles, UAVs, etc. approaching them. The synergy between NPOL, KELTRON and the Indian Navy has been a major boost to indigenous technology given that all three of them lie within a span of 25 kilometres around the town of Kochi in Kerala.
As for KELTRON which has bagged the deal, it has indicated that the state-of-art simulator will be manufactured at their Aroor Unit near Kochi. The 'power supplies and power amplifiers' required for manufacturing Sonar systems is being manufactured by Keltron at its Karakulam Unit in Trivandrum. The acoustic transducers required to sense the sonar signals are manufactured in the Kuttipuram Unit. KELTRON has already set up an exclusive Sonar Array Production Shop at the Aroor Unit which is the only such facility in India. |