Pradeep Kurulkar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Pradeep Kurulkar

• Pradeep Kurulkar is an Indian engineer and a DRDO scientist. He was affiliated with DRDO in many military-based research and development projects. He hit the headlines in May 2023 after the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra Police took him into custody for providing top-secret information to the agents of Pakistan.

• Pradeep was born into a Marathi Hindu Family in Maharashtra.

• He joined the Combat Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (CVRDE), a Pune-based research facility of the DRDO, in 1988. At CVRDE, Pradeep gained expertise in designing and developing Missile Launchers, Military Engineering Equipment, Advanced Robotics, and Mobile Unmanned Systems for Military Applications.

• Thereafter, he was appointed as the project leader and system manager of the DRDO’s Akash Surface to Air Missile project.

  

• He later worked with the renowned missile scientist Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in designing the rail and road-based versions of the Agni Inter Continental Ballistic Missile.

• Pradeep has held the position of team leader and lead designer in the design and development of DRDO’s missile systems such as Programme AD, Medium Range Surface to Air Missiles (MRSAM), Nirbhay Subsonic Cruise Missile System, Prahar Missile, Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM), XRSAM (eXtra-long Range Surface to Air Missile), Hyperbaric Chamber and Mobile Power Supply, and High-Pressure Pneumatic Systems.

  

• Later, he was promoted and sent to the Pune-based Research & Development Establishment (Engrs.) as an ‘F’ grade scientist.

• He was one of the lead designers of India’s first Anti-Sattelite Ballistic Missile, Shakti, which was successfully tested on 27 March 2019.

• Following the testing of the Shakti missile, he assumed the post of director of Research & Development Establishment (Engrs.).

• The R&DE, under his command, undertook numerous research and development tasks and developed technologies such as High Performance High Power Servo Drive Technology, Platform Stabilization Technology, AFPM based Alternator Technology, VSCF based Power Source Technology, Electric Propulsion Technology, Missile Canister Technology, Autonomous Navigation Technology for small UGVs, Intelligent Robotic Manipulators for hazardous military applications, and Linear Electric Motor Technology.

• His written research articles have been featured in many national and international scientific journals. Some of his works include Hall sensor fault detection and fault tolerant control of PMSM drive system (July 2015), Implementation issues of sliding mode observer for sensorless field oriented control of PMSM using TMS320F2812 (June 2016), Power supply systems for defence applications a review part-I: Gensets (December 2017), and Power supply systems for defence applications a review part: II power conditioner system (December 2017).

• Pradeep was taken into custody by the ATS in May 2023, i.e., six months before his retirement.

• For his feats in the field of scientific research, Pradeep has not only received memberships from the Fluid Power Society of India (FPSI) and The Robotics Society of India but has also received lifetime memberships from the Indian National Society for Aerospace and Related Mechanisms (INSARM) and the Institute of Smart Structures and Systems (ISSS).

• Pradeep has shared his experiences through many talk shows on different occasions.