HIGH-ENERGY MATERIAL RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

The manuscript presents the research and development (RandD) work carried out by Indian scientists in the various areas of high energy materials (HEM) broadly covering propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics. While India is self-sufficient in the field of high energy solid propellant, and both science and technology have reached international levels, more exhaustive RandD work is needed in the field of Earth storable liquid and cryogenic propellants. In the field of commercial and military high explosives, slurry/emulsion, cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine/cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine-based compositions have been extensively studied, evaluated, and used. However, to meet futuristic requirements, more powerful (velocity of detonation greater than 9500 m/s, density greater than 2 g/cc) and thermally stable explosives (>350 degrees C) are being synthesized and characterized. Infrared (IR) smoke compositions effective in high IR region (8-14 mu) have been developed. However, the thrust areas in all the wings of HEM are development of more powerful, less sensitive, and environmentally friendly compositions and fully automatic, remote control processing technologies.