New Delhi: Developed for the home-grown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, the On-Board Oxygen Generation Technology is being primed to fight a different war that entire mankind is fighting together at the moment.
The 1000 litre per minute capacity oxygen generation plant technology has already been given to the industry to produce medical oxygen to make up for the scarcity of oxygen for COVID patients.
According to a government release issued after defence minister Rajnath Singh held a virtual meeting on Tuesday with the top brass of the defence ministry and the armed services to review the preparedness amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, the Uttar Pradesh government has already placed the order of five such plants with the industry.
The DRDO chief Dr G Satheesh Reddy informed that more such plants can be supplied by the industry to cater to the hospital requirements.
The DRDO chief also said that the SpO2 (Blood Oxygen Saturation) based supplemental oxygen delivery system developed for soldiers posted at extreme high-altitude areas can also be used for COVID patients as their conditions are similar.
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The product will be available soon in the market from the industry as per technology provided by DRDO.
The government has already signed a 48,000 crore deal with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to make 83 MK 1A Tejas aircraft—marking the largest ever defence contract for indigenous manufacture.
The first three of these LCA Mark 1A fighters is expected to be ready by 2023 while the supply of the entire fleet is expected to be completed by 2028, with 16 aircraft a year for the next five years.
Besides the oxygen generator technology, the DRDO has several other key contributions including the Radar Warning Receiver and the Astra missile.
The Tejas is being designed by the Aircraft Development Agency (ADA) under the overall control of the DRDO while it will be manufactured by HAL.
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During the meeting on Tuesday, the defence minister urged the DRDO, Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to work on war footing to provide oxygen cylinders and extra beds to civil administration/state governments at the earliest.
Besides the defence minister and the DRDO chief, those present in the meeting included defence secretary Dr Ajay Kumar, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane, Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) Surgeon Vice Admiral Rajat Datta, secretary (defence production) Raj Kumar, and other senior civil and military officers.
The defence minister was briefed about the measures taken by AFMS, DRDO, DPSUs, OFB and other organisations of defence ministry such as the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in providing aid to the civil administration in this hour of crisis.
The DRDO is already operating a COVID-19 facility in New Delhi and efforts are being made to soon increase the number of beds from 250 to 500.
The DRDO chief also informed that the ESIC Hospital, which was converted to COVID hospital in Patna, has started functioning with 500 beds, and that work is on war footing to set up a 450-bed hospital in Lucknow, a 750-bed hospital in Varanasi and a 900-bed hospital in Ahmedabad.
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