(October 15, 1931 July 27, 2015)

MEMORIES:
INCREDIBLE
KALAM

2015
Defence Scientific Information & Documentation Centre
Defence Research and Development Organisation
Ministry of Defence, New Delhi 110 011
 Memoirs: Incredible Kalam

Editor : Gopal Bhushan

Director, DESIDOC
2015
Reprint in 2016

Defence Scientific Information & Documentation Centre

Defence Research & Development Organisation
New Delhi 110 011.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Indian

Copyright Act 1957, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed or transmitted, stored in a database or a retrieval
system, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the Publisher.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the book are those of authors only.
The Editor or the Publisher do not assume responsibility for the
statements/opinions expressed by the authors.

Published by Director, DESIDOC, Metcalfe House, Delhi 110 054

iv
 CONTENTS

Foreword vii
Preface xi

Contributions Page No.

Dr S Christopher 16
Dr G Satheesh Reddy 7-10
Dr KD Nayak 11-14
Shri Sudhir Mishra 15-18
Dr Tessy Thomas 19-22
Dr Maya Kumari 23-24
SK Sinha 25-34

Dr VS Arunachalam 35-40
Dr VK Aatre 41-44
Dr VK Saraswat 45-58
Dr Avinash Chander 59-68
Dr KG Narayanan 69-74
Shri VP Sandlas 75-98
RN Agarwal 99-114
Lt Gen (Dr) VJ Sundaram 115-120
Dr AS Pillai 121-128
Dr Prahlada 129-134
Dr W Selvamurthy 135-144
Dr V Siddhartha 145-146
 Memoirs: Incredible Kalam

AK Chakrabarti 147-156
Dr SK Salwan 157-164
Dr SK Chaudhuri 165-180
Dr SS Murthy 181-186
AK Checker 187-190
Dr Brahma Singh 191-198
RAdm SR Mohan 199-204
Rajaram Nagappa 205-212
CR Sathya 213-228
Dr B Dattaguru and Dr HS Mukunda 229-234
Dr Srikanto Bandyopadhyay 235-240
Dr DoddaJagan Mohan 241-244
Devyani Sinha 245-247

vi
 Foreword

I n the spirit of things, this work really needs no foreword.

It is an emotional and honest tribute by the personnel of
DRDO to one of the revered sons of India, Dr APJ Abdul
Kalam, who emerged from modest beginnings to become
Nations renowned scientist statesman.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam gave the manthra, strength respects
strength to the Nation and brought about a renaissance in
defence preparedness with his Integrated Guided Missile
Development Programme (IGMDP); the rest of the World
started looking up at India as an Emerging Regional Super
Power soon after that. He demonstrated the power of Group
Dynamics in realising his ambitious missile programmes by
effectively networking the National resource-centres across
rigid corporate barriers and that set the trend for other
programmes to follow and win by the collective wisdom.
He took care of spin-off benefits from high-end technologies
to serve in the down-to-earth societal purposes.
Dr Kalam dreamt of a Developed India by 2020 through
structured indigenous R&D together with appropriate
collaboration with advanced nations. He wanted India
to become economically strong, self-reliant in defence
technologies, and, stand tall among advanced countries of
the world. His devotion, dedication and hard work set a
new yardstick for performance for results in whatever one
 Memoirs: Incredible Kalam

was doing, and this fever caught up every group that was
engaged in any national development activity subsequently.
His simplicity, humility and concern for young Indians
earned him the honour as the Peoples President. He
staunchly believed that grooming of the young Indian
minds held the key for a brighter India of the future.
Personally, I was overawed by Dr Kalams keen eye
for details in R&D projects. He took extraordinary interest
in making sure how the Rajendra radar of LRDE was
married to the air defence missile, Akash, of DRDL to be
an effective operational system. Dr Kalam literally believed
and practised that he was on Nations duty all 24 hours of
the day! He arrived almost in the middle of the night of
19th December 1997 to inaugurate the Automated Planar
Near-Field Measurement (APNFM) Facility at LRDE to the
jubilation of scientists, who were eagerly waiting for him.
The APNFM facility was to be extensively used to calibrate
and evaluate performance of Rajendra, the indigenous
radar for the Akash Missile system.
We remember with sorrow, the 12th January 1999, on
which day, four of our DRDO scientists together with four
of our IAF officers sacrificed their lives in an air accident
to the Airborne Surveillance Platform (ASP) prototype near
Arakkonam, while pursuing the final phase of flight trials
of their indigenous radar. Dr Kalam, the Secretary and DG
DRDO, came rushing to Bangalore on that occasion, to be
with the grieving relatives and colleagues at the Community
Hall in the DRDO Township. The solemn words he spoke
on that day still reverberate in my ears: The young scientists
laid down their precious lives in the pursuit of the Nations
scientific goals. We shall honour them by carrying on the
unfinished work and delivering the fruit of their labour to
the waiting Nation.
viii
 Foreword

I met him in his house on 06 June 2015 after I had

taken over the Secretary and DG-DRDO, a post which
he held a long time ago. The purpose of my visit was to
obtain his advice to run this organisation. He welcomed me
warmly and said, Now you are the boss of the empire
and I replied saying, I am the caretaker now of the empire
created by you. He gave a broad laugh and discussed about
my previous work. When I said that there is possibility for
export of AEW&C system, he was happy but stated that our
need should not take any back seat. Then both of us recalled
the ASP crash at Arakkonam in 1999. He presented me the
book, written by him, in which he has brought out these
events. At that time I never knew that was going to be my
last meeting with him.
This compilation of memories and recollections by
those who had personally and professionally interacted with
Dr Kalam will help readers capture the many dimensions of
his personality as a man, as a scientist and as a statesman.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, will continue to inspire every Indian
for a long, long time to come!
I take this opportunity to express my appreciation to
the Director, DESIDOC, and contributors of articles, for
their keenness and efforts to bring out this publication as a
token of their abundant love for Dr Abdul Kalam.

New Delhi Dr S Christopher

Secretary, Dept. of Defence R&D and
DG, DRDO
ix
 Preface

T his book is a tribute to the iconic Missile Man-

Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam or better
known as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam or simply Kalam. Its a
testimony of personal experiences of many greats who
worked with him during his time in, DRDO, ISRO and
elsewhere.
Dr Kalams professional life spans four decades as a
physicist, aerospace engineer and technocrat with the Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence Research
and Development Organisation (DRDO). Dr Kalams great
contribution to develop Indias first indigenous Satellite
Launch Vehicle made India a member of the elite Space
Club. At DRDO, his work in the field of missile technology
and his contribution to Pokhran II are well known. He was
instrumental in making India a nuclear weapon State and
gave a thrust to self-reliance in defence systems and mission
mode projects. His special relationship continued with
DRDO until the very end of his life.
Dr Kalam was full of concern for the countrys
progress and development. He had a vision and was very
determined to transform India into a developed nation.
He wanted India to be economically strong and self-reliant in
 Memoirs: Incredible Kalam

national security and technologies, and wanted the country

to attain a high standing amongst the advanced countries in
the world. As President of India and in his post-Presidency
years, Dr Kalam spent a significant amount of his time
inspiring students through his blueprint the India 2020.
Dr Kalam took genuine interest in everyone he met;
listening and encouraging them in such a way as to give
them confidence in their own ability. His love for children
whom he considered tomorrows citizens is well known.
He wanted under privileged children to be nourished and
educated. He often said, let us sacrifice our today so that
our children can have a better tomorrow.
He was also a great educationist and spreading
scientific literacy was his passion. He toured and lectured
at educational institutions and advocated for an education
system that would create employment rather than
employment-seekers. He believed in empowering youths
to take risks and in expanding the boundaries of science
and technology to generate employment and accelerate the
countrys economic growth. His books, Wings of Fire,
India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium, My
Journey and Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within
India made him a household name in India and abroad.
Dr Kalam was sustained by the belief that improvement
was always possible as long as the necessary effort was put
in; and in making that effort he did not spare himself, right
up to the very end.
The book offers the reader a never before insight on
Dr Kalam. This is an engrossing volume which presents
a view into the world of Dr Kalam which he held us
xii
 Preface

spellbound with for close to four decades! The roles played

by the Missile Man are delineated in very graphic detail
by his admires, friends and critics. The book will reveal
many fascinating facts of the life of Dr Kalam who is no
longer in our midst but will remain in everyones heart.
I take the opportunity to thank the contributors for their
enthusiasm and the prompt delivery of their contributions
which, in some cases, were very short notice indeed. The
fact that so many people have contributed is evidence of the
influence Dr APJ had on those who knew him and worked
with him. There are many more, who would have loved to
share their stories and experiences; but, regrettably, could
not be contacted due to time constraints.
I thank Dr S Christopher, Secretary DD R&D & DG
DRDO and Dr CP Ramanarayanan, Distinguished Scientist
and Chief Controller R&D (Human Resource) for their
encouragement, suggestion and editing. My special thanks
to Dr Christopher for taking time off to write the foreword
and his personal anecdotes with Dr Kalam.
I wish to thank you my colleagues in DESIDOC who
have generously helped with their individual contributions
whichever way I had requested; very specially to
Balasubramaniam Nityanand for his invaluable and untiring
efforts in coordinating activities spanning across various
divisions of DESIDOC in spite of his full time devotion
to office duties; Ms Kavita Narwal for her very sincere
efforts in compiling the book and designing the cover with
Ms Gunjan Bakshi; and, likewise other officers and staff of
the DESIDOC for tracking down several greats of DRDO,
who have since retired, for their individual reminiscences
xiii
 Memoirs: Incredible Kalam

Needless to mention that compilation of this book was a

great opportunity for me to reconnect with the legends of
DRDO. It was a wonderful feeling to interact with them
once again after so many years.
I conclude with the quote of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam,
Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident.

New Delhi Gopal Bhushan

Director, DESIDOC

xiv
 Development of Rajendra Radar for Akash Missile

1
Development of Rajendra Radar
for Akash Missile brought me
close to Dr Kalam

DR S CHRISTOPHER
SECRETARY, DEFENCE R&D & DG, DRDO

D r Kalams Integrated Guided Missile Development

Programme (IGMDP) at Defence Research &
Development Laboratory (DRDL) was a major leap
forward for the Nation, boosting its defence preparedness
significantly. Akash Air Defence Missile was developed
under the IGMDP for the Indian Armed Forces. Rajendra,
Indias first multi-function electronically scanned
phased array Radar developed at Electronics Research &
Development Establishment (LRDE), was slated to be the
primary sensor at the flight level for the Akash missile.
A scientist with an eye for details, Dr Kalam evinced
keen interest in the integration of the Rajendra radar with
the Akash missile. He held several technical reviews and
1
 Memories: Incredible Kalam

pushed the programme. He directly interacted with me

during this exercise, though I was a junior scientist at LRDE.
At one point, we were stuck for want of an entirely new
type of measurement facility, namely, Automated Planar
Near-Field Measurement (APNFM) facility, to validate
Rajendras antenna design. Fortunately, the requirement
coincided with my doctoral work at IIT, Madras.
The theoretical knowledge, however, had to be translated
into a viable measurement facility in a hurry. Dr Kalam
enthusiastically supported development of the facility at
LRDE. We spent a very small amount for development
of the hardware and wrote in-house the entire range
of software for APNFM. The APNFM indoor antenna
evaluation facility was soon ready.
It was decided that Dr Kalam would inaugurate the
APNFM facility on December 19, 1997. Unluckily, his flight
to Bangalore on that day got inordinately delayed and yet
Dr Kalam arrived well past mid-night and inaugurated the
facility to the delight of LRDE personnel, who were eagerly
waiting for him. For a scientist, who was on nations duty
24 hours a day, it was just another day, or night, of work!
Dr Kalam spent considerable time at the APNFM facility
appreciating each and every feature of its design.
The APNFM facility, the first of its kind in Asia in
1997, was extensively used to calibrate the Rajendra radar
and evaluate performance of Akash, the state-of-the-art
indigenous Air Defence Missile system. During the whole
exercise, Dr Kalam was a great guide leading the team
to realize the project objectives. Personally for me, this
association with the visionary scientist was a memorable
experience.

2
 Development of Rajendra Radar for Akash Missile

We remember with sorrow the January 12, 1999, on

which day four DRDO scientists, two each from LRDE
and Centre for Air Borne Systems (CABS), together with
four IAF officers sacrificed their lives in an air accident to
the Airborne Surveillance Platform (ASP) prototype near
Arakkonam, while pursuing the final phase of flight trials
of their indigenous radar. Dr Kalam, the Secretary and DG
DRDO, came rushing to Bangalore on that occasion, to be
with the grieving relatives and colleagues at the Community
Hall in the DRDO Township. The solemn words he spoke
on that day still reverberate in my ears: The young scientists
laid down their precious lives in pursuit of the Nations
scientific goals. We shall honour them by carrying on the
unfinished work and delivering the fruit of their labour to
the waiting Nation.
I called on Dr Kalam at his Rajaji Marg residence soon
after taking over as Secretary and DG, DRDO. The purpose
of my meeting him was to have his counsel on management
of the organisation. He welcomed me warmly and said,
Now you are the boss of the empire and I replied,
I am the caretaker now of the empire shaped by you, sir!
He gave a hearty laugh and enquired about the status of the
AEW&C programme at CABS. When I said that there were
possibilities for export of the AEW&C India surveillance
system, he was pleased, but cautioned, Ensure that our
national requirement does not take a back seat. Dr Kalam
presented me a copy of his book with his autograph.
When I thanked him for his time and took leave of him,
I did not realise that it was destined to be our last meeting.

3
Memories: Incredible Kalam

Rajendra Radar

APNFM Facility

4
Development of Rajendra Radar for Akash Missile

5
 Missile man Dr APJ Abdul Kalam: Reminiscing Memories

2
Missile Man Dr APJ Abdul
Kalam: Reminiscing Memories

Dr G. SATHEESH REDDY
SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR TO RAKSHA MANTRI,
DISTINGUISHED SCIENTIST & DIRECTOR, RCI

D r APJ Abdul Kalams simple, down to earth life,

inspiring words and indomitable leadership will ever
remain etched in the memory of anyone, who worked with
him. My mind is filled with such countless memories of
interactions with Dr Kalam, the man who formulated the
Integrated Missile Programme of the country and made
India emerge as a Missile power.
Dr Kalam, though went on to become the Peoples
President winning the hearts of one and all, we, his old
associates from the Missile Complex will always remember
him as our Guru and Mentor.
Many establishments and facilities were conceptualised
and created under this Great Visionary. A favorite brainchild

7
 Memories: Incredible Kalam

of Dr Kalam is the Research Centre Imarat (RCI). Dr Kalam

conceived and steered RCI as a generator of critical missile
technologies essentially needed but denied to India. Ever
since its inception, RCI has been nurtured to pursue R&D
in the cutting edge technologies which ultimately resulted
in development of not just missiles, but many other hi-tech
weapon systems and platforms in the country, transforming
his dreams into reality. Dr Kalams inspiring memories
are indelibly imprinted in not just hearts of the people in
the Missile Complex, but in the air and soil of the place,
especially the RCI.
I remember, when I was taking over as Director, RCI,
I was fortunate to have Dr Kalam in RCI, who narrated that
while establishing RCI, it was his dream to see it flourish as
one of the futuristic advanced research centres in the world
and entrusted me the task of attaining self-reliance in each
of the mandated technology areas and develop first of its
kind products.
It was indeed a proud and poignant moment for me
to unveil, on behalf of RCI and Missile Complex fraternity,
a statue of Dr Kalam on 10 Aug 2015 near the Faculty House
in the Residential Complex of RCI. The sight of his statue
at a place, where Dr Kalam used to live as Director during
those dare-devil days, will surely inspire the youth for
generations - to dream big, aim big and fulfill the dreams
with focus, hard work and dedication. I am grateful to all
the eminent missile scientists who graced the occasion and
paid tributes to the Missile Man and shared their fond
memories of their association with Dr Kalam.
I am sure that the reminiscence of inspirational words
of Dr Kalam will always keep motivating the scientific
fraternity to aspire for greater heights and to set new
8
 Missile man Dr APJ Abdul Kalam: Reminiscing Memories

benchmarks in the years to come. His dreams were never

ending. The greatest tribute that we can pay to him is to
fulfill his dreams and realise the vision set by him for the
country.