Four DRDO labs taken off US blacklist on technology transfer

The DRDO labs, including the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), were blacklisted by the US in the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear tests by India.

"Yes, the sanctions have been lifted. The four DRDO labs have been taken off one of the categories under which technology transfer was banned," DRDO Chief Controller for Research and Development (Armament and Combat Engineering) S Sundaresh told reporters here today.

"The four labs are now placed in another section on par with some European nations to whom latest, critical technologies can be transferred. We will now get more, latest technology," he added.

Before this, the Entity List had DRDO labs Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in Pune, the Defense Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in Hyderabad, the Missile Research and Development Complex (MRDC) in Hyderabad and the Solid State Physics Laboratory in New Delhi.

Obama had said that the US would remove these DRDO labs, along with four ISRO establishments, and the missile producer Bharat Dynamic Limited from the Entity List.