Defence Research and Development Organisation organised DRDO Industry Synergy Summit 2019 in Hyderabad today. In a video message, Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh welcomed the synergy being created for boosting the indigenous development of defence systems and technologies. He said, DRDO is taking crucial steps for attaining self-sufficiency in the area of defence systems development. The DRDO has been contributing towards research, design and development of many defence technologies in the areas of missiles, fighter aircrafts, naval systems, electronic warfare, radars, sonars and armament systems since its inception. Raksha Mantri said, under the Defence Production Policy, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has set the target of $26 billion for aerospace, defence services and goods by 2025. In this, approximately $10 billion is targeted for creating job opportunities for 20-30 lakh people. Highlighting the various initiatives of Government to encourage innovation and self-sufficiency in the defence sector, Shri Rajnath Singh stressed on the need for excellence in the field of defence innovation and their adoption. He said, Defence Public Sector Units (DPSUs), Industry, research institutes and services need to work in tandem to achieve the target of incorporating at least 25 Artificial Intelligence based products into defence in near future.
Raksha Mantri appreciated that DRDO has nurtured more than 1,800 industries which are actively working together to produce defence systems. He asked the DRDO and industry to explore new ways for enhancing synergy to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency. In his address, Secretary, Department of Defence, Research & Development and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy elaborated about among others the latest policies of DRDO like Zero Transfer of Technology (ToT) and Zero Royalty for Development-cum-Production Partners (DcPP) and free usage of DRDO patents by domestic Industry. Expressing confidence in defence industry, he said, healthy scenario is to be fostered for closer interactions between Industry and DRDO to overcome the gaps.The DRDO Chairman highlighted that of late industry base has greatly widened from mere manufacturing to development and designing of components and sub-systems. He said, the Indian Industry has matured from ‘Build from Print’ to ‘Build from Specifications’. A panel discussion chaired by Chairman DRDO was also held. Many concerns were raised and suggestions were given by the industry participants. It was communicated that constructive suggestions will be duly taken into account in the upcoming policies for improvement of the functioning of the system. Some industry representatives shared their experiences of working in the defence sector and spoke about the challenges faced by startups and MSMEs in manufacturing and exports. Senior officials of DRDO and around 300 Industry representatives were also present on the occasion.