DRDO taking steps for attaining self-sufficiency
Hyderabad: DRDO-Industry Synergy summit was held at RCI Hyderabad on Friday, in the presence of senior officials of DRDO and about 300 Indian Industry representatives. Chairman DRDO and Secretary DDR&D presided over the summit. DRDO has contributed towards research, design and development of many defence technologies in the areas of missiles, fighter aircrafts, naval systems, electronic warfare, radars, sonars and armament systems.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in his video message, expressed his happiness about the synergistic environment being nurtured for boosting the indigenous development of defence systems and technologies. He added that DRDO was taking crucial steps for attaining self-sufficiency in the area of defence systems development.
He said that under defence production policy, defence ministry has set a target of $26 billion for aerospace, defence services and goods up to 2025. In this approximately $10 billion is targeted for creating job opportunities for 20-30 Lakh Indians. Highlighting the Indian Government's various initiatives to encourage the innovation, he said a target was set by government to incorporate at least 25 AI based products into defence in near future. He expressed his happiness that DRDO has nurtured more than 1800 industries and they are actively working together to produce various defence systems.
The Defence Minister also expressed his satisfaction on large number of industry participants being present in the summit. Chairman DRDO and Secretary DDR&D, Dr G Sateesh Reddy, in his address, mentioned about the latest policies of DRDO like Zero ToT and Zero Royalty for Development cum Production Partners (DcPP), free usage of DRDO patents by Indian Industry. Speaking further, he said the industry representatives were working models where DPSUs and private industry participated constructively to produce crucial defence systems.
Speaking on this occasion, DG DRDO Dr Guruprasad said that imports are to be reduced as much as possible. Director RCI Dr BHVS Narayan Murthy, Program Director Astra, Shri Patrick D'Silva and Dr Mayank Dwivedi, Director Industry Interface and Technology Management also spoke on the occasion. DG DRDO Dr Samir Kamat and Associate Director of RCI Dr Linga Murthy were present in the function. Directors and senior officials, financial advisors, CDA officials participated in the proceedings.