Defence Analysis and Improvement Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Samir V Kamat
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ANI
India is spending solely 5.75 per cent of its defence price range on analysis and improvement, far decrease than the US, which allocates greater than 10 per cent, Defence Analysis and Improvement Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Samir V Kamat mentioned on Monday, underscoring the pressing want to spice up funding in defence R&D to arrange for future warfare.
Talking on the fortieth Air Chief Marshal (Retd) PC Lal Memorial Lecture organised by the Air Power Affiliation, Kamat mentioned technological transformation throughout all domains has basically modified the character of warfare, making sustained funding in innovation crucial.
“We need to be a expertise chief, however in case you have a look at our R&D spending, it is vitally low. Total, we allocate solely about 0.65 per cent of GDP to R&D, whereas our opponents spend greater than 2 per cent. In defence, our R&D share is simply 5.75 per cent of the price range,” he mentioned.
Recalling the contribution of Air Chief Marshal (Retd) PC Lal, Kamat mentioned his management through the 1971 struggle formed the Indian Air Power into the pressure it’s at this time.
Kamat famous that India’s ambitions of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India and turning into a developed nation by 2047 require a robust home defence expertise ecosystem. “The world is present process a significant transformation. Throughout land, air, sea, house, cyber and knowledge domains, warfare is altering quickly. Whereas our aspirations are excessive, the challenges are equally important,” he mentioned.
Key challenges
Among the many key challenges, he listed restricted management over provide chains, shortage of R&D expertise, insufficient civil-military fusion and the legacy impression of previous sanctions. He additionally confused the necessity to enhance the benefit of doing R&D within the nation.
Calling for broader participation, Kamat mentioned business should play a bigger position in design and improvement, whereas start-ups, MSMEs and academia have to be deeply concerned in primary and utilized analysis on future applied sciences. “Check amenities, infrastructure and capability constructing are essential. Civil-military fusion is the necessity of the hour,” he added.
Highlighting DRDO initiatives, Kamat mentioned the organisation is specializing in development-cum-production partnerships and has signed over 2,000 expertise switch agreements. DRDO amenities have been utilized by greater than 600 industries since 2022, and innovation is being promoted by initiatives such because the ‘Dare to Dream’ contest.
He additionally pointed to educational collaborations, together with the DRDO–Ministry of Training programme underneath which PhD students are engaged on defence applied sciences at IITs, NITs and different establishments. Programs at undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma ranges are being run to talent youth for defence R&D.
On future capabilities, Kamat mentioned DRDO is specializing in areas akin to underwater and house situational consciousness, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, man-unmanned teaming, cyber defence, safe communications, AI-enabled command and management, and ballistic and hypersonic missile defence—a part of what the Prime Minister has known as “Operation Sudarshan Chakra”.
He mentioned a number of methods are anticipated to be inducted over the subsequent one to 3 years, together with the Anant Shastra surface-to-air missile, Guided Pinaka, superior light-weight torpedo, very short-range air defence system, Dhruvastra anti-tank missile, naval anti-ship missile (brief vary) and RudraM-2 air-to-surface missile.
Concluding, Kamat mentioned the street forward can be difficult however promising. “If we play our playing cards proper, we will obtain atmanirbharta and expertise management in defence by 2047. We should turn out to be totally self-reliant in missiles, armoured automobiles, artillery, plane, helicopters, ships, submarines, radars, digital warfare methods, sonars and torpedoes,” he mentioned.
Printed on December 15, 2025
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