DRDO plans to market its technologies

It aims at setting up a marketing subsidiary to sell its products

“The value of the orders placed on DRDO technologies in the last six years amounts to Rs 1,10,000 crore,” Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister and DRDO chief V K Saraswat said at an international seminar that was curtain raiser for Aero India 2011 on Friday.

Defence Minister A K Antony had completed the review, and now it was up to the Centre to approve the proposals, Saraswat said.

DRDO has 20 active international partners, both mutually benefitting from the collaboration. The Indian civil aviation market has been growing at a significant rate (an estimated 30-32 per cent) giving ample scope for the entire avionics community to indulge in combined efforts in developing newer technologies, he said.

The DRDO, said Saraswat, along with other defence units in the country has been moving towards involving the private industry.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the atomic energy development organisations and the DRDO together have over 1,500 partners in private industry and it has worked well, he added.

The private players have grown from being just component makers to sub-systems makers and the next shift must be them becoming lead engineering firms, using whose infrastructure, the nation can execute projects of large-scale like the light combat aircraft (LCA) programme successfully, Saraswat said.

While the Aero India seminar’s focus is on international collaboration, the theme for the exhibition is on self-reliance, in reflection of the balance that the nation is trying to achieve.

Tribals may get Army’s food pills

The DRDO is proposing the use of nutrition pills developed specifically for the armed forces, in tribal areas with low nutrition levels.

Organisation chief V K Saraswat said he and some DRDO officers struck upon this idea during their recent visit to tribal areas in Chhattisgarh.

The Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore, a DRDO lab, is the pioneer in the field of high-nutrition life-saving bars and pills for soldiers posted in extreme conditions such as Siachen.