Wings of fire - Sir APJ ABDUL KALAM Wings of fire | Page 61

base. The former consists of an oxidizer or inorganic
material (like ammonium perchlorate) in a matrix of organic
fuel (like synthetic rubber). Double base propellants were
distant dreams those days but nevertheless we dared to
dream about them.
All this self sufficiency and indigenous manufacture
came gradually, and not always without pain. We were a
team of almost self-trained engineers. In retrospect I feel
the unique blend of our untutored talent, character, and
dedication suited SLV development the most. Problems
surfaced regularly and almost consistently. But my team
members never exhausted my patience. I recall writing after
winding up a late night shift:
Beautiful hands are those that do
Work that is earnest and brave and true
Moment by moment
The long day through.
Almost parallel to our work on SLV, the DRDO was
preparing itself for developing an indigenous surface-to-air
missile. The RATO project was abandoned because the
aircraft for which it was designed became obsolete. The
new aircraft did not need RATO. With the project called off,
Narayanan was DRDO’s logical choice to lead the team for
making the missile. Unlike us at ISRO, they preferred the
philosophy of one-toone substitution rather than technology
development and performance upgrading. The Surface-to-
Air Missile SA–2 of Russian origin was chosen to acquire
detailed knowledge of all the design parameters of a
proven missile and to establish, thereby, the necessary
infrastructure required in the organization. It was thought
that once one-to-one indigenization was established,
further advances in the sophisticated field of guided
missiles would be a natural fall-out. The project was
sanctioned in February 1972 with the code name Devil and
funding of about Rs. 5 crore was made available for the first
three years. Almost half of it was to go in foreign exchange.
By now promoted to Air Commodore, Narayanan took
over as Director, DRDL. He mobilized this young laboratory
located in the southeastern suburbs of Hyderabad to take
up this enormous task. The landscape dotted with tombs
and old buildings started reverberating with new life.
Narayanan was a man of tremendous energy—a man
always in the boost phase. He gathered around him a
strong group of enthusiastic people, drawing many service
officers into this predominantly civilian laboratory. Totally
preoccupied with the SLV affairs, my participation in the
Missile Panel meetings gradually dwindled, and then
stopped altogether. However, stories about Narayanan and
his Devil were beginning to reach Trivandrum. A
transformation of an unprecedented scale was taking place
there.
During my association with Narayanan in the RATO
project, I had discovered that he was a hard taskmaster—
one who went all out for control, mastery and domination. I
used to wonder if managers like him, who aim at getting
results no matter what the price, would face a rebellion of
silence and non-cooperation in the long run.
New Year’s day, 1975, brought with it an opportunity to
have a firstperson assessment of the work going on under
Narayanan’s leadership. Prof. MGK Menon, who was
working then as Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister
and was head of the DRDO, appointed a review committee
under the chairmanship of Dr Brahm Prakash to evaluate
the work carried out in the Devil Project. I was taken into the
team as a rocket specialist to evaluate the progress made