The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Importance of defending the ocean stressed

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Thursday, Dec 13, 2007
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Importance of defending the ocean stressed

Staff Reporter

Ocean electronics has significance in the development of weapon-delivery systems and unmanned underwater vehicles

KOCHI: The ocean is becoming a very important field of war and it has great influence on keeping peace on land, A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller, Research and Development, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said here on Wednesday.

In his inaugural address at Sympol 2007 – a symposium on ocean electronics organised by the department of electronics of Cochin University of Science and Technology here – Dr. Pillai said that DRDO had three laboratories located near the naval commands in the west, east and south keeping a close tab on the 7,500-kilometre-long coastline of the country.

“We are working closely with the naval officers for developing advanced technologies. There is considerable encouragement from the Indian Navy to embark on indigenous systems, as we are building a strong navy with many ships, submarines and aircraft,” he said.

Pointing out that telecommunication and telemetry have grown both in bandwidth and coverage across the globe, Dr. Pillai said that the advantage of underwater telemetry was the ability to obtain real-time data for operational and forecasting purposes.

He said that the role of ocean electronics in navigation and control assumed significance especially in the development of weapon-delivery systems and unmanned underwater vehicles. Such vehicles were increasingly being deployed for mapping underwater terrains, mine laying and mine sweeping and also for recovery operations beneath the sea, he said.

Kerala has got a huge potential for industrial development, Dr. Pillai said on the sidelines of the symposium.

He said that value-added products would be much in demand and stressed the need to market raw materials like titanium oxide available in the State.

Referring to the takeover of the Kerala Hitech Industries Limited (KELTEC) for setting up of a BrahMos Aerospace facility in the State, Dr. Pillai said that the company was trying to explore the possibilities of making Kerala industrially developed.

S. Ananthanarayanan, Director of Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory, released the proceedings of Sympol 2007. N.D. Inasu, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Cochin University of Science and Technology; C.S. Sridhar, chairman of the organising committee; K. Vasudevan, head of the department of electronics; and P.R.S. Pillai, vice-chairman of the symposium, spoke.

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