Finish 100 projects in the next 12 months: Rajnath Singh gives target to DRDO

New Delhi: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asked the DRDO to hold open house sessions with the industry at least twice a month to come out with “innovative technologies in changing times” besides giving the scientists a target of completing 100 critical technology projects in the next one year.

The minister said each Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratory should organise two open houses each month for interactions with the industry including the start-ups, which can be a part of the R&D initiatives. DRDO has a network of 52 laboratories.

“This will promote valuable exchange of ideas and provide an opportunity for the Indian defence sector to come out with innovative technologies according to the changing times,” he said, at an event to mark the DRDO foundation day.

The minister’s comments come a day after the Defence Ministry announced that 2025 would be marked as a year of reforms and integration of emerging technologies would be a key component of the reform process. The reforms will also see widening of the defence ecosystem by roping in start-ups and other industries.

The minister asked the scientists to keep an eye on the products and processes being adopted by the technologically-advanced countries, and develop niche technologies. "Each DRDO laboratory should identify 2-3 critical projects, which should be completed by 2025. By the next foundation day, we should have 100 such projects completed,” he said.

DRDO chief Samir Kamat said so far the apex defence research organisation transferred around 1,950 technologies to Indian Industries, of which, 256 licensing agreements were signed in 2024.

Ever since DRDO test facilities were made open to the industries, more than 18,000 tests have been carried out for private industries or defence PSUs in the past three years with more than 5,000 tests in 2024 itself.

Anti-Drone Ammunition: Meanwhile, the Indian Army has issued an RFI to the industry to make anti-drone ammunition.

With recent conflicts demonstrating successful use on unmanned aerial vehicles and loitering munition to penetrate enemy air defence and precision ground strike, the force is on the look out for 23 mm ammunition that can be fired from existing air defence guns like Zu-23 and Schilka anti-aircraft guns.

Since the drones specially the commercial off-the-shelf ones have low radars cross section, small size, higher survivability and comparatively low costs, countering them with the current gun ammunition would be a challenge, said an official. The vendors are to respond by Feb 17.