Ballistics will fuel R&D, says DRDO Chairman

Madhapur: Ballistics will fuel research and development in niche technologies associated with ballistics in India said Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Chairman DRDO & AeSI.

He was speaking at the 31st International Symposium on Ballistics - 2019 organised by the Aeronautical Society of India in association with the International Ballistics Society. The International Symposium Ballistics -2019 is organised for the first time in India in which nearly 500 delegates from 30 different countries are participating.

The symposium would provide immense exposure and opportunity to address some of the probing thoughts and issues in the areas of launch dynamics and interior ballistics, exterior ballistics, terminal ballistics, explosion mechanics, vulnerability and survivability and many other ongoing related areas of research.

KPS Murthy, Director of HEMRL, in his welcome address said that the science of ballistics has always been a never-ending fantasy of the scientific community. The mechanics of launching, flight behaviour and impact dynamics of accelerating projectiles, specially of ranged munitions, always had an intellectual charm, fascinating scientists and technologists alike, he said.

Dr Sidney Chocron, president of International Ballistics Society, said in his presidential address that the symposium is the apex level meeting in this field. "We regularly receive 300 to 400 participants and publish 200 papers where the abstracts are peer reviewed by a well-qualified committee.

Our last symposium in Long Beach, California, saw representatives from 27 countries and all the continents." Later, Dr VK Saraswat, Member of NITI Aayog who was the chief guest, stressed the importance of sharing knowledge gained through experience and experimentation in the area of ballistics is the need of the hour.