DRDO’s 67^th Foundation Day: Floral tributes paid to former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam at his bust in DRDO Headquarters

• Several systems handed over & Acceptance of Necessity accorded for value of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in 2024: DRDO Chairman

• “73 projects worth Rs 275 crore sanctioned in 2024 engaging 266 researchers & 10 new academic institutes”

• “1,950 Transfer of Technologies on DRDO-developed systems handed over to Indian Industries; 256 Licensing Agreements for Transfer of Technology signed in 2024”

New Delhi. Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO Dr Samir V Kamat, along with Director Generals and senior officials, paid floral tributes to former President and the Missile Man of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam at his bust in DRDO Headquarters, New Delhi on January 3, 2025. These tributes were paid to mark the 67^th Foundation Day of DRDO, which is celebrated on 1^st January every year.

During the event, many important DRDO documents were released by the DRDO Chairman. These included an SOP on Product Development, Compilation of various SoPs & Guidelines related to DRDO Personnel, DRDO Transport Policy, Dictionary on scientific and technical terminology, Magazines ‘InSight’, Biannual Magazine ‘Quest’ and the January Issue of DRDO Newsletter.

Two DRDO Monographs were released on the occasion. The first monograph was ‘Conceptual Guide to Torpedo System Design and Development’ authored by Dr RVS Subrahmanyam & Dr Y Sreenivas Rao. The second monograph was ‘Himalayas to Hyderabad : A Journey from Border Roads to Missiles, Microdrones and Cyborgs’ authored by Lt Gen (Dr) VJ Sundaram & Smt Scharada Dubey.

To increase synergy with industry, Chairman DRDO launched the Industry Interaction Group (IIG) initiative on DRDO website. IIG is a proactive and structured framework, instituted to enable industries to bring forward suggestions, concerns, queries and grievances, if any, by way of one-on-one interaction through open house with concerned laboratories.

In his address, the DRDO Chairman extended his greetings to the DRDO fraternity and said that 2024 was a very good year for the organisation. He stated that DRDO has been conferred with prestigious awards in five categories: Innovation, Technology, One of its Kind Building & Construction and Aatmanirbhar for the project DHARASHAKTI-Integrated Electronic Warfare (EW) System, Advanced Light Weight Torpedo (ALWT), Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS), Mission 45 Day and Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) at 32^nd Global Symposium and 6^th World Project Management Forum.

The DRDO Chairman stated that several systems have been handed over and Acceptance of Necessity accorded for value of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in 2024. 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 Indian Coast Guard, Anti-Tank Influence Mine PRACHAND, 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. Several DRDO systems have either completed or are in the final stages of User Evaluation or Development Trials.

Dr Kamat expressed happiness that Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) 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. He also mentioned about some of the infrastructure and test facilities established by DRDO namely Defence Technology & Test Centre (DTTC) as a part of Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UP DIC) in Lucknow; Submersible platform for acoustic characterization and evaluation (SPACE) in Idukki, Kerala; A new ‘Virtual Reality-based (Chaff) Applications for Naval Ship’ (ViRANSh) Centre at Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur (DLJ); Small Arms Barrel Manufacturing Facility at ARDE, Pune; 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 DRDO as well as for allied Indian industries.

The DRDO Chairman also highlighted the DRDO initiatives for Enabling Industry & Engagement of Academia in 2024 and said that, 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. He informed that more than 19 Development cum Production Partners/Production Agencies were chosen last year for Mission Mode projects. He added that DRDO 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. More than 25 Industry meets across the country were held. Industry Interaction Groups have been established in Labs to facilitate industries and resolving industry grievances. 44 Industry partners completed SAMAR (System for Advanced Manufacturing Assessment and Rating) assessments.

Dr Kamat added that, as on date, 80 projects are ongoing, with nine projects awarded to Industries/MSME/start-ups in 2024. 29 projects approvals are also in the pipeline and should get sanctioned soon. A green propulsion system developed under TDF scheme was successfully demonstrated in orbit functionality on a payload launched by the PSLV C-58 mission. Also, an AI tool ‘Divya Drishti’ that integrates face recognition with immutable physiological parameters such as gait and skeleton has been developed.

The DRDO Chairman mentioned that the organisation had been granted more than 201 patents and filed more than 226 patents in 2024. He added that the 15 DRDO Industry Academia Centres of Excellence (DIA-CoEs) which are steering translational research activities in nearly 65 identified research verticals are performing very well. In 2024, 73 projects were sanctioned with a total cost of Rs 275 crore in which 266 researchers and 10 new academic institutes have been engaged. This makes it a total of 274 sanctioned projects at the cost of Rs 984 crore engaging 900 researchers and 46 academic institutes.

DR Kamat added that Industry engagement with academia has also been activated under the DIA-CoEs and this year 10 tripartite engagements have been done among DRDO, IIT Delhi and Industry partners. He concluded his speech with highlighting the targets pertaining to reforms in the year and expected the structural and other changes to be completed soon in 2025. He expressed confidence that the documents/SOP for industry engagement through DIA-CoEs; Policy for harnessing start-ups, and policy for awarding Higher Risk Projects in Deep Tech Areas will be launched soon.