Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday inaugurated a seven-storeyed Flight Control System (FCS) Integration facility at Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) in Bengaluru which has been built in a record 45 days.
The foundation stone for this state-of-the-art complex was laid on November 22, 2021, and actual construction began on February 1, 2022.
The structure has been built using for the first time in the country in-house hybrid technology consisting of conventional, pre-engineered and precast methodology. The technology has been developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with the help of M/s Larsen & Toubro (L&T). Design check and technical support has been provided by the teams of IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee.
This FCS facility will support Research & Development (R&D) activities for developing Avionics for Fighter Aircraft and FCS for Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft being undertaken by ADE, Bengaluru.
The Defence Minister said the facility will go a long way in bolstering national security. The complex will also provide simulator training to the pilots of combat aircraft. Rajnath Singh described it as one of the most important components of the complex. The simulators provide an opportunity to learn by making mistakes without the possibility of any kinds of losses, he stated.
According to a defence Ministry statement, In Hybrid Construction Technology, the column and beam elements of the structural frame are built with steel plates. The column is of hollow steel tubular section. These columns are concrete filled steel hollow cross sections. The slabs are partially precast and all these structural members are assembled at site.
Concreting is done simultaneously to make the structure monolithically cast thus eliminating any dry joints as in case of precast construction. In this case of concrete-filled hollow sections, the steel provides a permanent framework to the concrete core which reduces the time and effort drastically as compared to conventional construction.
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