New Delhi: Outlining Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) multiple deliverables in the last year, Chairman Samir V Kamat said that several systems have been handed over and Acceptance of Necessity accorded for value of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in 2024.
He was speaking at an event held at the DRDO Bhawan here. He also paid floral tributes to the former president and the ’Missile Man’ of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, during the event.
Several Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) systems have either been completed or are in the ”final stages” of user evaluation or development trials, the defence ministry said on January 4.
According to the defence ministry statement, many important DRDO documents were released by the chairman on the occasion, including ”a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on Product Development, a compilation of various SoPs & Guidelines related to DRDO Personnel.
”These include Air Defence Tactical Control Radar (ADTCR), Air Defence Fire Control Radar (ADFCR), Medium Range Anti-ship Missile (MRAshM), Long Range Land Attack Cruise Missile System (LR-LACM), SIGINT and COMJAM Aircraft (SCA), Medium Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft (MRMR) for Indian Navy and Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft (MMMA) for the Indian Coast Guard,” the statement read.
The statement added, other systems include ”Joint Venture Protective Carbine (JVPC), Area Denial Munition Type-2 & Type -3 for ’Pinaka’ Rocket System, 155 mm nubless projectile (Bourrelet), Indigenous EW suite Yodha and Anidra for Su-30 MKI, Software Defined Radio – Tactical, Electro Optical Fire Control system and CBRN Water Purification System Mk-II.
Expressing happiness that Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has sanctioned two flagship programmes namely Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED) of Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and Setting up of a Missile Test Range at Nagayalanka, Andhra Pradesh, Chairman Samir V Kamat also mentioned about some of the infrastructure and test facilities established by the DRDO, namely Defence Technology & Test Centre (DTTC) as a part of Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UP DIC) in Lucknow; and one-of-its-kind Land-Based Submarine Battery Test Facility at NSTL, Visakhapatnam.
He hoped these would play a key role in accelerating development activities within the DRDO as well as for allied Indian industries.
Highlighting the initiatives by the organisation for enabling industry and engaging academia in 2024, the DRDO Chairman said, ”So far, 1,950 Transfer of Technologies on DRDO-developed systems have been handed over to the Indian Industries, of which 256 Licensing Agreements for Transfer of Technology (LAToTs) were signed with Indian Industries in 2024.”
Over 19 development cum production partners/production agencies were chosen last year for ’Mission Mode’ projects, he informed and added that its test facilities have been opened to the industries for utilisation and more than 18,000 tests have been carried out for private industries/DPSUs in the past three years, with over 5,000 tests in 2024 itself.
“As on date, 80 projects are ongoing, with nine projects awarded to industries, MSMEs, start-ups in 2024 and 29 project approvals are also in the pipeline and should get sanctioned soon,” he said.
The DRDO Chairman said, “A green propulsion system developed under Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme was successfully demonstrated in orbit functionality on a payload launched by the PSLV C-58 mission.”
As per the defence ministry statement, an AI-based tool ’Divya Drishti’ that integrates face recognition with immutable physiological parameters such as gait and skeleton has also been developed.
Mentioning that the organisation had been granted ”More than 201 patents”, the DRDO Chairman stated that DRDO had filed more than 226 patents in 2024.
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