ARDE, Pune Develops Canopy Severance System for Fighter Aircraft

• 23 Jun 2021

• Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune in association with High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune, has developed Canopy Severance System (CSS), which is an escape path clearance system for the pilot in case of emergencies occurring on the aircraft.
• It will be used for the indigenously developed LCA Tejas and Trainer Aircraft, HJT-36 Aircraft and HTT-40 Aircraft.
• CSS has two independent sub-systems. The first one is the In-flight Egress System (IES) for in-flight emergencies, which is integrated with the seat ejection operation and the second one is the Ground Egress System (GES) for on-ground emergencies, which is independent of seat ejection.
• CSS works on the principle of controlled propagation of detonation using explosive mechanical energy. It consists of critical mechanical and explosive components qualified to military-grade requirements and demonstrating high reliability.
• CSS for LCA Tejas were tested successfully in seat ejection trials at M/s Martin Baker Co., London, UK and for trainer aircraft at M/s. Zvezda, Moscow, Russia. The CSS design has been cleared by Certifying Agency RCMA (AA), Pune and CEMILAC, Bangalore has issued Type Approval.
• The technology was transferred to M/s GOCL Corporation Ltd. for production of CSS for the indigenously developed aircraft.