NEW DELHI: The Union Government is going to restructure the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) in near future on the lines of the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency. The aim is to attain high-end futuristic technologies for future wars.
The Government has set up a high-powered committee, comprising officials from the ministry of defence (MoD), the three services, industry, and academia, to redefine the role of India’s premier defence research agency. The DRDO has a budget of Rs 23,264 crore for 2023-24.
The nine-member committee, headed by former principal scientific advisor to the Government Prof K Vijay Raghavan, will submit its report within three months.
Defence sources claim the move to revamp the DRDO is driven by the Prime Minister’s Office. The PMO is reportedly also considering bifurcating the post of DRDO Chairman and Secretary-research and development in the MoD. This is to ensure that the DRDO chief, with lesser responsibility, can devote more time and energy to defence programmes. The view is that a bureaucrat holding the post of secretary-R&D can manage administrative and financial tasks better than a scientist.
‘Redundant’ tasks
A top defence official said the DRDO should be focusing only on high-end futuristic technologies foreseen in air, ground, maritime and space systems. This would come at the cost of offloading some of its ongoing ‘redundant’ tasks, which perhaps the academia or industry can do. For several years, the DRDO was mandated to work to only meet the immediate demands of the armed forces and indigenise existing weapon systems even as other countries concentrated on future technologies.
As per the terms of reference of the Raghavan-led committee, while it will suggest inputs to maximise academia and start-up participation in the development of cutting-edge technologies, the panel will also investigate the restructuring and redefining the role of the Department of Defence (R&D) and DRDO, as well as their relationship with each other and with the academia and industry. Though DRDO has done tremendously well in missile and radar technologies, but Government thinks this is not enough.
