Date:16/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/16/stories/2006101601450200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

A scientist who is a `sahib' at home

"As a Defence scientist you can keep learning new technology and have the satisfaction that what you are working at is for your own country and its safety," A.K. Shukla tells K. Satyamurty.

When you come from a small village in the Champaran region of Bihar, it may be difficult to explain to your family and old neighbours that you are today a scientist. They just think you are today a "sahib": not someone who tests, validates and certifies systems that go into military aircraft.

This is the experience of A.K. Shukla, a young scientist with the Centre for Military Air worthiness and Certification [CEMILAC], part of Defence Research and Development Organisation, here.

The jet trainer Tejas, the upgraded version of Sukhoi and other military aircraft need systems that civilian passenger airliners rarely need.

A fighter jet, for instance, needs to be compact and light, to be able to go through sudden manoeuvres. A civilian plane flies more or less according to a fixed flight pattern and cannot deviate; there are other aircraft around.

"We are very much a design approval agency for aircraft and their systems. We are involved right from the design stage if it is indigenous aircraft and have other duties, if it is imported or manufactured here under licence'' says Mr. Shukla. There are different stages of testing and some of it may be under computerised simulation studies to see if an aircraft system can withstand the demands of Defence applications, often in extremes of climate and in remote locations where repairs and replacements cannot be easily carried out. While sophisticated software has made simulation of conditions possible in a laboratory, the Light Combat Aircraft or Medium Combat Aircraft also go through hundreds of hours of actual flying when systems are tested, glitches noted and modified. Small modifications sometimes or back to the drawing board again, he says.

"Even ordinary nuts and bolts on an aircraft have to be tested and certified airworthy. Lives may depend on such small factors under combat conditions," says Mr. Shukla.

"I did get offers from MNCs after graduating from the Regional Engineering Institute at Allahabad. As a Defence scientist you can keep learning new technology and have the satisfaction that what you are working at is for your own country and its safety,'' he adds.