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DRDO chief G Satheesh Reddy says India should produce state-of-the-art programs. (File)
New Delhi:
To implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s concept of an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” within the defence sector, India should flip from being one of many largest importers of weapons on this planet to the most important exporter, mentioned G Satheesh Reddy, chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Speaking on the on-line India Foundation Dialogue 75, the DRDO chairman mentioned that a number of steps had been taken in numerous sectors to inculcate “Atmanirbhar Bharat” in defence.
“When one talks about self-reliance in India’s defence technology, it means that we should have the design, development and manufacturing capabilities for particular equipment or weapon systems that are required by our armed forces. Although in the last two decades, we have made significant strides in our technology, we are still one of the largest importers of defence equipment, arms and ammunition in the whole world,” Mr Reddy added.
“What we are doing is not sufficient. Many things need to be developed and we must produce state-of-the-art systems, rather than importing from outside. Generally, we are followers of new technology. This has to change. We need to develop first of its kind, home-grown systems that others should want to buy from us,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the Prime Minister had given very particular directions to make all of the required adjustments with a view to indigenise weapons, including that the DRDO had began a number of initiatives and schemes to attract extra folks into defence, together with inculcation of related programs on the undergraduate and postgraduate stage.
“From being one of the largest importers, we have to become the largest exporter. In order to achieve this, our country’s academia must work on core research areas. We have so far established about eight centres of excellence for this kind of academic research work and with various schemes, we are trying to develop many core technologies which will greatly benefit our future generations. Thousands of crores have been invested in 200-300 projects and we hope to yield good results in the coming years,” he mentioned.
He additionally added: “With the Ministry of Education, we have also picked about 500 PhD students who will do their research at DRDO labs and take our defence problems as their research subject. They will have guides from academia as well as scientists from the DRDO. In the next 4-5 years, we will have extensive research material on 500 defence-related problems and their potential solutions.”
He mentioned that defence was going to be launched as a part of faculty curriculum by this 12 months, and B.Tech and M.Tech college students had been already given comparable elective topics.
“We have brought in certified courses through our academic institute in Pune called DIAT (Defence Institute Of Advanced Technology) wherein a lot of people study artificial intelligence and cyber tech. These courses have just started now and per year at least 1,000 people in each course will be trained and certified in these areas,” Mr Reddy mentioned.
He mentioned that between 5,000-10,000 college students had been doing tasks with the DRDO and lots of schemes had been being introduced to offer paid apprenticeships for the scholars.
Mr Reddy mentioned that the DRDO had risen to the event and declared that we’d be working extra on the essential and superior state-of-the-arts programs solely. Design and improvement could be included from the trade.
“The Ministry of Defence has announced a list of 101 items that will not be imported from outside at all and will be made, designed, developed and produced in the country. A new update to the list is soon to come. The DRDO has also opened test facilities and over 1,700 patents to the industry so that more manufacturers and developers can have the support of the DRDO wherever it is required,” he added.
The DRDO chief mentioned {that a} new scheme known as the expertise improvement fund had been established for the indigenisation of imported programs. Firms and firms who assume they’ve the potential to provide such gadgets right here will probably be absolutely funded by the DRDO.
“If our country is going to be prosperous, industries must not only supply to our own armed forces but export to other countries in large number,” Mr Reddy mentioned.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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