Speaking at the inauguration of DRDO’s Transit Facility here on Saturday, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister V K Saraswat said dependence on operating systems widely used the world over even for key operations has potential threats and hence the Organisation has been entrusted with the responsibility of developing an indigenous OS.

“Software development centres will be set up at Bangalore and New Delhi with the objective of developing the operating system. Several other software-related activities will also be taken at these centres subsequently,” he said.

  Apart from defence establishments, the India-developed OS will be beneficial for other sectors such as banking. Saraswat revealed that the decision was taken only a month ago and the implementation has already begun. About 50 scientists of DRDO laboratories across the country are involved in the project in addition to industry players and academic institutions like IISc and IIT, Chennai.

Strategic location

Saraswat said Bangalore, with several laboratories of strategic importance, was a key location for the DRDO. The Organisation will redefine its clusters and enhance the role of human resources personnel in assessment, training and selection of scientists. The facility opened in the City will be a major training centre, he added.
He said the DRDO has a blueprint on the its proposed commercial arm and was waiting for necessary clearances. It will be operational in an year.

Speaking of the milestones the organisation is eyeing in the coming years he said that Agni-2+ and Agni-5 missiles will be launched by the end of this year and next year, respectively. Also, the first phase of production of about 125 tanks and the initial operational clearance for the light combat aircraft (LCA) are scheduled to be completed in 2011.

DRDO’s unmanned aerial vehicle Rustom-1 will also complete the first phase of operations.

He also revealed that the country will see a series of satellites, with specific applications to suit various needs of the different services in the coming years. Some of the applications of the payloads that would go on the satellites would be surveillance, guidance (of missiles), navigations, precise imaging, et al.

He said that all the payloads, keeping in mind the security constraints, will be developed indigenously.