The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony called upon the DRDO to concentrate and also foresee the emerging defence technologies to meet the emerging challenges/threats from various quarters. He was speaking at a meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry. Shri Antony stated that the DRDO is now spending nearly 80 % of its budget on Mission Mode Projects, with deliverables for the Armed Forces. However, in order to be able to focus the Organisation’s energies on such projects, the task of carrying out low-end research must be given away to the private sector and the industries, he said.
The Minister also informed that DRDO has already implemented major recommendations of Dr. Rama Rao Committee. He said based, on these recommendations seven Technology Clusters have been created in the new organizational set-up of DRDO at different locations, each headed by an empowered Director General.
Shri Antony also informed the members that the much awaited Initial Operational Clearance – II for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) is scheduled on 20th December 2013 at Bangalore for which he on behalf of the Committee congratulated the scientists of DRDO and other stakeholders of the project. The Defence Minister expressed hope that DRDO will continue to strive to complete all its projects on time.
On this occasion, the Committee members along with the Defence Minister congratulated Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi, a member of the Committee and Dr. Shivathanu Pillai, CEO BrahMos Aerospace who have been awarded the ‘Order of Friendship Award’, which is the highest Russian Order given to foreign citizens. They will receive the Award from the Russian President Shri Vladimir Putin.
The meeting was attended among others by Minister of State for Defence Shri Jitendra Singh, the Defence Secretary, Shri RK Mathur, Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister Shri Avinash Chander, the Secretary (Defence Production) Shri GC Pati and Secretary ESW Smt Sangita Gairola.
The Members of Parliament who attended the meeting included Shri Murli S Deora, Shri HK Dua, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Shri Piyush Goyal, Shri Naveen Jindal, Shri Gajanan Dharmshi Babar, Shri Kailkesh N Singh Deo, Shri SS Ramasubbu, Shri Ram Chandra Khuntia, Shri Ishwarlal Jain, Shri DP Tripathi and Dr. Mahendra Prasad.