TIDCO’s VP P Madhusoodhanan says Tamil Nadu is building an end-to-end ecosystem for its aerospace & defence sectors by leveraging its abundant rare earth reserves, focusing on refining and recycling to reduce import dependency.
Wing Commander P Madhusoodhanan, Vice President – Aerospace and Defence at Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO), on Friday said that the organisation is “working towards ensuring the requirement of the aerospace and defence industries”.
“People talk about magnetism; magnetism is on everything. There are multiple things. So as part of the aerospace and defence industry segment, we are working on how to ensure that the requirements of the aerospace and defence industries are available,” Madhusoodhanan said, speaking about the importance of rare-earth materials
Tapping into Rare Earth Potential
He further stated that Tamil Nadu has a significant advantage in the field of rare earth elements and that the state is working to establish an end-to-end ecosystem supporting the aerospace and defence industries.
“One of the things is rare earths are available in plenty in Tamil Nadu. Monazite is there available in the southern parts of the state and if you look at the maximum amount of availability of rare earth elements, they are in Tamil Nadu and Kerala,” he said.
Bridging the Processing Gap
“It’s a question of processing them. There is a limited amount of processing which is happening. It’s not actually matching the resources.”
He added that while mining is already taking place, “refining does not exist as of now. Once refining and recycling are in place, this becomes an end-to-end ecosystem in the state.”
Government Action and Industry Focus
“The state government is already working on this and particularly my domain of aerospace and defence because people talk about magnetism — magnetism is in everything,” Madhusoodhanan said.
“As part of the aerospace and defence industry segment, we are working on how to ensure that the requirements of the aerospace and defence industries are available.”
He emphasised that “what is available for the aerospace and defence industries will be available for the rest of the industries as well,” adding that “most of the new technologies emerge from here, right from ambulance to internet to even sanitary pads and band-aids, everything came from the defence industry.”
Madhusoodhanan explained that Tamil Nadu was among the first states to frame a dedicated policy for this sector. “Tamil Nadu is the second state in the whole country to come up with this aerospace and defence industry policy. It came out in 2019. In 2022, upgraded. We came out with a new version,” he said.
Utilisation, Recycling, and Reducing Dependency
Discussing rare earth utilisation, he said, “Every fighter plane has electronics, radars, control systems. So there are rare earths which are used there.”
He added that there is a “need for technology to develop so that we are able to take out this material in existing stuff,” such as scrapped aircraft and motors.
“Technology needs to evolve so that our recycling would be able to cater to a large requirement because we do not have much materials in this. We are still dependent on imports.”
He noted that while countries like China and Australia have large reserves, India could reduce dependence through recycling. “There are already lot of stuff which are available in the country, so recycling gives additional resource which can be easily used. We don’t need to depend on someone. Something which is thrown to the trash we can use, which is going to reduce our dependence on foreign countries quite a bit,” he said. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)