Sateesh reddy
Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, on Saturday emphasised that his organisation was continuously striving to promote collaboration with the industry and the academia to help equip the armed forces with state of the art equipment and systems.
Delivering a lecture organised to mark the National Technology Day, he said, “We have about 7,000 scientists in our organisation. However, we work on a wide range of activities from clothing for the armed personnel to missiles, rockets, combat aircrafts, ammunition and portable bridges. It is humanly impossible for scientists to take care of everything. We need to work with academic institutions and the industry also. We, therefore, constantly come out with newer schemes and other initiatives to foster relationships with them”.
The emphasis, he noted, was particularly on developing futuristic weapons and systems based on cutting edge and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, quantum mechanics and cyber system so that even while the armed forces were equipped with the best, the industry also felt a need to get involved.
"Every year, the country celebrates the National Technology Day on May 11, the day on which India successfully test fired its first nuclear bombs in 1998. "
“Earlier, we were technology followers. Consequently, we were most of the time lagging behind the developed world by eight to 10 years and our industry partners did not have enough market to offset the efforts they put in. Now, things are changing. With the development of state of the art equipments and systems, they are able to export also instead of merely depending on our requirements”.
The DRDO, he noted, presently has collaboration with 1,200 to 1,500 industrial units and 130 to 140 academic institutions including the Indian Institute of Science, IITs and universities. “When DRDO was established, we just had a handful of industry partners. We had to provide them with everything. Our scientists had to be with them right from the time of designing of a product to its actual production and deployment. Now, our industry has matured. They can handle everything on their own. They even sometime come up with ideas and we work with them.”
During the talk, Dr. Reddy, who is also Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, made a detailed presentation on the various achievements of DRDO in different segments including taking care of psychology of the armed personnel working in Siachen glacier and other such remote areas and improving the living standards of citizens living near border areas. The programme was organised by Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Science and Technology, with a mandate to promote science communication.
Every year, the country celebrates the National Technology Day on May 11, the day on which India successfully test fired its first nuclear bombs in 1998. Scientists tested five explosive devices at Pokhran in Rajasthan between May 11 and May 13.
India Science Wire
