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Corruption in DRDO is Beyond Control of Chairman

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Tomorrow a DRDO Lab Director is retiring and giving a good Bouquet with full of plenty corrupt flowers to DRDO Chairman.

Such big prestigious national important organization Chairman is helpless to act against corruption prevailing in DRDO.

The following document is clearing showing the hight of corruption persist in DRDO. The poor tax payer of India can see it with naked eye but unfortunately the people who are sitting on constitutional positions are overlooking for unforeseen reasons.

The item purchased by scientist of DRDO Lab is common GM/SRS modem using for data communication and easily available everywhere even online also.(Wave com Model 1306B)

Wave com Model 1306B which is required for Automatic Weather station (AWS) Data transmitting.

As per sources these Automatic Weather station (AWS) are placed in various high altitude ranges roughly more than 70 places but unfortunately only less than 5 are working. It clearly shows that how sincerely DRDO scientists are working in such a tense border situation.

Wave com Model 1306B cost for common people Rs 3650/- approximately for each

Wave com Model 1306B cost for DRDO Rs 274500/- each and purchased in dozon of numbers.

As per sources -The firm supplied these Wave com Model 1306B is  by M/s Royal Enterprises and it  belongs to a DRDO scientist who was involved in procurement these items

and it is open secret of DRDO Lab.

After inquiry no action is taken by any competent authority why it is big question in poor tax payers mind, may be GOD help them to wake up their long sleep.

Jai Hind

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DRDO is Shinig in all Media – Jai Ho

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AAJ TAK नोएडा,28 सितंबर 2020,

नोएडा: DRDO का वैज्ञानिक ऐसे हुआ मुक्त, पुलिस टीम को 5 लाख इनाम

घटना सेक्टर-49 थाना क्षेत्र के सेक्टर-77 स्थित प्रतीक विस्टेरीया सोसायटी के बाहर की है. बीते शनिवार को डीआरडीओ के वैज्ञानिक के अपहरण की सूचना मिलते ही नोएडा के पुलिस महकमे में हड़कंप मच गया. सूचना मिलते ही कमिश्नर आलोक सिंह के नेतृत्व में छह टीम बनाई गईं.

दिल्ली से सटे यूपी के नोएडा में रक्षा अनुसंधान एवं विकास संगठन (डीआरडीओ) के जूनियर वैज्ञानिक को पुलिस ने सकुशल बरामद कर लिया. वैज्ञानिक को हनी ट्रैप के जाल में फंसा कर उनके परिवार वालों से 10 लाख की फिरौती मांगी गई थी. बताया जा रहा है कि वैज्ञानिक को शनिवार की शाम नोएडा में मसाज के नाम पर एक होटल में बंधक बनाकर अगवा कर लिया गया था.  

घटना सेक्टर-49 थाना क्षेत्र के सेक्टर-77 स्थित प्रतीक विस्टेरीया सोसायटी के बाहर की है. बीते शनिवार को डीआरडीओ के वैज्ञानिक के अपहरण की सूचना मिलते ही नोएडा के पुलिस महकमे में हड़कंप मच गया. सूचना मिलते ही कमिश्नर आलोक सिंह के नेतृत्व में छह टीम बनाई गईं. सभी को अलग-अलग दिशाओं में वैज्ञानिकों की खोज में भेजा गया. रविवार की देर रात वैज्ञानिक को सकुशल बरामद कर एक महिला सहित तीन लोगों को गिरफ्तार कर लिया गया. पुलिस इन बदमाशों के अन्य साथियों को पकड़ने के लिए जगह-जगह दबिश दे रही 

पुलिस ने बताया कि शनिवार को मसाज सेंटर का एक आदमी आया और वह उसके साथ नोएडा में ही एक होटल में मसाज के लिए चले गए. थोड़ी ही देर में तीन-चार लोग वहां पहुंचे और वैज्ञानिक को धमकाने लगे. उन पर सेक्स रैकेट में शामिल होने का आरोप लगाया और खुद को पुलिस अधिकारी बताने लगे. फिर उन्हें होटल के कमरे में बंधक बना लिया. फिर परिवार वालों से 10 लाख रुपयों की डिमांड कर डाली. 

बदमाशों ने खुद को पुलिस अधिकारी बताते हुए वैज्ञानिक को धमकाया अगर पैसे नहीं मिले तो उसे गिरफ्तार दिखाया जाएगा. जिससे न सिर्फ उसकी नौकरी जाएगी बल्कि बदनामी अलग होगी. 

बताया जा रहा है कि पुलिस को सूचना डीआरडीओ मुख्यालय से मिली थी. जिसके बाद पुलिस ने लगातार छापेमारी शुरू की और देर रात उन्हें सफलता मिली और वैज्ञानिक को सकुशल मुक्त करा कर परिवार वालों को सौंप दिया. पुलिस अब इस के अन्य साथियों को तलाश में जुट गई है. जिससे यह पता चल सके कि यह गैंग अब तक कितने लोगों को ऐसे ठग चुका है. 

पुलिस को तफ्तीश में पता चला कि ये सारा खेल हनी ट्रैप का था. पुलिस ने बताया कि वैज्ञानिक अजय प्रताप अपने मोबाइल पर मसाज पार्लर और स्पा सर्च कर रहे थे. जहां उन्हें किडनैपर्स का नंबर मिला. किडनैपर्स ने पहले वैज्ञानिक को अपने जाल मे फंसाया फिर अपहरण कर 10 लाख की फिरौती मांगी. पीड़ित परिवार ने  थाना सेक्टर 49 नोएडा पर इस घटना की लिखित तहरीर देकर मु0अ0सं0 802/2020 धारा 364ए भादवि0 पंजीकृत कराया. 

सर्विलांस की सहायता से जब पुलिस लोकेशन पर पहुंची तो होंडा सिटी गाड़ी में तीन लोग मौजूद थे, जो कहीं भागने की फिराक में थे. लेकिन पुलिस टीम ने ड्राइविंग सीट पर बैठे दीपक पुत्र राजेश निवासी गांव चेहडका, थाना बहल, जिला भिवाडी, हरियाणा को पकड़ लिया. वह वर्तमान में आई 64 ओयो होटल सेक्टर 41 में ठहरा हुआ था. कार में पिछली सीट पर बैठे दो व्यक्ति खिडकी खोलकर फरार हो गए. 

पुलिस ने उसी की निशानदेही पर सेक्टर 41 के ओयो होटल के कमरा नंबर 203 में दबिश देकर अपहरणकर्ता सुनीता गुर्जर पत्नी देवेन्द्र गुर्जर निवासी गांव आगाहपुर, सेक्टर 41, थाना सेक्टर 39 नोएडा और राकेश उर्फ रिंकू फौजी पुत्र दिनेश कुमार निवासी गांव चेहडका, थाना बहल, जिला भिवाडी, हरियाणा के कब्जे से अगवा किए गए वैज्ञानिक को बरामद कर लिया. उसी कमरे में वैज्ञानिक को बंधक बनाया गया था. 

इस मामले में सफलतापूर्वक वैज्ञानिक को मुक्त कराने और आरोपियों की गिरफ्तारी को लेकर अपर मुख्य सचिव (गृह) ने जनपद गौतमबुद्धनगर की पुलिस टीम को 5 लाख रुपये का नगद पुरस्कार देने की घोषणा की है. 

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Govt bans printing of calendars, diaries, festival greeting cards by all ministries, PSUs. Question is Will DRDO will follow this order or will print thsese through Projects funds in the name of Project Planners etc ?

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Govt bans printing of calendars, diaries, festival greeting cards by all ministries, PSUs

By Gaurav Noronha, ET Bureau Sep 03, 2020
The government has banned the printing of materials like calendars, diaries and festival greeting cards by all ministries, departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs).
The finance ministry asked all the organs of the government to adopt digital means to publish such material, in a memorandum on Wednesday.

“The Government of India has decided that there will be no further activities towards printing wall calendars, desktop calendars, diaries, festival greeting cards and similar materials by all Ministries/Departments/Autonomous Bodies and other organs of the Government,” the directive said.

Further, the government also banned the printing of coffee table books and directed that e-books should be used instead…
“The printing of Coffee Table books is also banned and appropriate use of E-Books is encouraged. Therefore, all concerned are directed to make efforts to adopt innovative means to use digital or online method for the above activities,” it said.
This was the second such decision which appears to be aimed at rationalising costs with regard to the government’s printing activities and encouraging the adoption of digital tools.

As per a cabinet secretariat decision last month, the diary and calendar printing activities for all ministries, departments and PSUs would be centrally handled by the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC).

The secretariat had directed all government bodies to submit their diary and calendar printing requirements to the BOC by August and that the printing and distribution of these materials should be completed by December.
The government has been making a conscious effort to adopt digital means wherever applicable.

“Given the prevailing circumstances in which the world is increasingly moving towards adopting digital force-multipliers for productivity, the Government of India has decided to follow this best practice,” a statement from the finance ministry said.

“There is to be a concerted effort towards incorporating innovative methods in such matters. Using technological innovations for planning, scheduling and forecasting is well known to be economical, efficient and effective,” it added

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DRDO labs to be overhauled, expert committee set to review charter for futuristic battles

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By Manu Pubby, ET Bureau Aug 26, 2020
Synopis
To be led by Prof P Ramagopal Rao, Director IIT Delhi, the select panel will delve deep into the nature of work being carried out by each lab under the organisation and will present a report to redefine the charter of work being carried out and minimize technology overlaps.
NEW DELHI: The Defence Research and Defence Organisation (DRDO) is going for a deep overhaul of its laboratories and has set up an expert panel to review their charter of duties to prepare the armed forces for futuristic battlefields.

To be led by Prof P Ramagopal Rao, Director IIT Delhi, the select panel will delve deep into the nature of work being carried out by each lab under the organisation and will present a report to redefine the charter of work being carried out and minimize technology overlaps.

Interestingly, the panel also includes representation from the armed forces, with Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sandeep Singh as a member. Others include ISRO Director S Somnath and two representatives from within the DRDO.
The committee is to present a roadmap within 45 days with the specific directive to “redefine the charter of duties of labs on the current and futuristic battlefield scenario; minimise the overlay of technologies amongst the labs.”

The study could pave the way for a reorganisation of the organisation that has a network of 52 labs across the country engaged in a variety of projects – from nuclear missiles to development of fighters and UAVs, food products for soldiers, data analytics and laser technology.

The last major overhaul of the organisation took place after the Rama Rao Committee report of 2008 that had suggested that DRDO be reorganised into clusters of labs based on the role they were tasked with. Seven clusters were set up like missiles, armaments, aeronautical systems and life sciences.

The Rama Rao Committee had recommended the setting up of a Defence Technology Commission, a younger age profile for scientists, more involvement of the organization in defence procurements, more foreign collaborations, a dedicated research board, restructuring of labs and a commercial arm of the research body.
It had also recommended that DRDO concentrate efforts in 8-10 critical areas suiting its existing resources and that 11 labs related to life sciences be transferred out of DRDO to other departments.

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EXCLUSIVE: Govt sets up expert panel to redefine DRDO for futuristic battles

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Panel to review duties of DRDO’s 52 laboratories, cut technology overlaps
By Pradip R Sagar August 26, 2020 THE WEEK

The central government has set up an expert committee to redefine the role of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the current and futuristic defence and battlefield scenarios.
It aims to reduce Indian military’s dependence on imports, as India is the second-largest arms importer in the world after Saudi Arabia. Moreover, its also a move towards Prime minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” in the defence sector.
On day one of his second innings as DRDO head, Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, who is also the secretary of the department of defence research and development (ministry of defence), constituted the five-member elite panel. Incidentally, the Cabinet’s Appointments Committee had on Monday approved a two-year extension of tenure for Reddy.

The committee is headed by professor V. Ramagopal Rao, Director of IIT, Delhi. Other members include S. Somnath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre; Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, Deputy Chief of Air Staff; Dr. Samir V. Kamat, Director General-Naval Systems & Materials (NS & M) and Benjamin Lionel, Director, Instruments Research & Development Establishment of DRDO.

The terms of reference of the committee will be to study and review the charter of duties of all 52 laboratories of DRDO and to redefine the same for both current and futuristic defence and battlefield scenarios. Part of the panel’s tasks will be to minimise the overlap of technologies amongst the laboratories.

The committee has given a deadline of 45 days to submit its report and its chairman may co-opt subject specialists as invitees to specific meetings.

But, defence experts are apprehensive about the new panel, hoping it will not meet the fate of other expert committees, such as the P. Rama Rao Committee.

The committee headed by P. Rama Rao, former Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, had submitted its report in 2008. The report, DRDO’s first external review aimed at restructuring the defence R&D body, suggested that DRDO concentrate only on “core technologies” of “strategic importance” instead of venturing into making juices, mosquito repellents, titanium dental implants and so on. The committee had also suggested de-centralization of DRDO management and making it a leaner organization. Subsequently, on the Rama Rao panel’s suggestion, DRDO’s management was decentralised by merging its 52 labs to form seven clusters based on technology domains such as missiles, electronic warfare, radars, aerial vehicles and underwater weapons.

DRDO has often been criticised for delayed projects and missing repeated deadlines with huge cost overruns. And in absence of self-reliance in defence, Indian armed forces continue to be heavily dependent on imports with over 70 per cent of armed forces requirements are met from foreign firms.

On Monday, a delegation by DRDO made a detailed presentation before Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, identifying 108 military sub-systems and components for development by Indian (private) industry and the DRDO will provide support the process. DRDO claims that the design and development of these subsystems would be done over the next couple of years. This announcement follows the negative list of 101 military hardware from imports, which have to be domestically procured in a phased manner.

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Congratulations to Dr G Satheesh Reddy for extension But !

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The extension of  Dr G Satheesh Reddy confirm that Modi Ji’s team is believing him and expecting that DRDO will extend its full potential for “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan”.

The last two years observations shows 75 % energy was wasted to manage/ controls the most of DG’s because due to prevailing sycophancy /nepotism/corruption creates massive presences of incompetents in the present structure. All though Dr. Reddy’s is lucky enough till date able managed and survived, now a very big  incompetents chunk is retiring in 2021 and will give some relief to DRDO.

Rest corruption field was not able to manage due to clutches of these above incompetents’ nexus and due to helplessness situation the things carryon.

 In this time do not want to elaborate corruptions issues whether Bellari to Delhi, SASE modem to hotel, Hyderabad/Bangluru scientists /vendor nexus. CEPTAM.RAC etc

DRDO is restructuring very fast but will be face teething problems due to its requested to PMO give free hand to Dr. Reddy to get rid of these incompetents/corrupts/ products of sycophancy.

Every one of DRDO 3000 people knows this fact but to DRDS/DRTC schemes locked their lips. So once again good wishes and hope will leave some foot prints like Homi J. Bhabha.

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One killed, one injured in fire explosion at HEMRL

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Prateek Goyal  – Wednesday, 20 June 2018 – Sakal Times

Pune: One person died and another was injured in a major fire accident at High Energy Materials Research Laboratory of DRDO on Tuesday. Sources confirmed that the accident occurred in building No. 16 of HEMRL at around 3 pm.

The deceased worker was identified as Laxmikant Sonawane, 30, a native of Nandurbar, whereas, the injured worker has been identified as Yogesh Kirtikar, 28, a resident of Pashan. Both were working as contract labourers at HEMRL and were deployed by one Thane-based company known as Shree Gajanan Facilities Pvt Ltd.

According to sources, the accident occurred while they were cutting the gas generator’s composite propellant. “The two men were working with a hacksaw and were cutting the propellant in the explosive area. The fire explosion had occurred because of the friction while they were cutting the propellant. Sonwane, who was using the hacksaw, died on the spot, whereas, Kirtikar has received burn injuries on his hands, eyes and head,” said a source at HEMRL.

It is significant to note that both the workers were not experts in explosives and neither they were carpenters. They have not received any formal training to do the propellant cutting.

A HEMRL official on the condition of anonymity, said, “DRDO doesn’t even give compensation to the workers who die in such accidents while giving their services in these scientific projects. In the year 2015 accident, all HEMRL employees donated their salary to the family of deceased contract worker Deepak Pokale and two other injured workers.

KPS Murthy, Director, HEMRL, said, “It was very unfortunate that a contractual labour died in the accident. The actual cause of the accident will be revealed only after a detailed investigation.”
Arun Vaykar, Police Inspector, Hinjewadi police station, said, “A police team rushed to the spot immediately after the incident. We have initiated an investigation into the matter and will find out the reasons for the accident.”

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One killed in fire at Pune DRDO lab

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HEMRL is one of the oldest laboratories of the DRDO.

By: Express News Service | Pune | Published: June 20, 2018

Police have identified the deceased worker as Laxmikant Ramesh Sonawane (26), a resident of Ramnagar in Warje, and the injured as Yogesh Kirtikar. (Representational)

One contract worker died and another was seriously injured in a fire involving explosive material at the High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), at Pashan in Pune on Tuesday afternoon.

Police have identified the deceased worker as Laxmikant Ramesh Sonawane (26), a resident of Ramnagar in Warje, and the injured as Yogesh Kirtikar.

“The deceased was a contract worker. All the safety measures were in place at the time of the accident. A high-level DRDO committee will investigate the causes of the accident and come up with a report,” said HEMRL Director KPS Murthy.

Senior Inspector Arun Waykar of Hinjewadi police station said, “The workers were taking samples of some explosives when suddenly, some of the substances they were handling exploded.”

HEMRL is one of the oldest laboratories of the DRDO.

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Railways Mull Rs 6,250 Cr Replacement To Flawed Bio-Toilets–After Spending Rs 1,620 Cr

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IndiaSpend Team, June 18, 2018
Mumbai: Having spent nearly Rs 1,370 crore on 136,985 railway bio-toilets–criticised for being “no better than septic tanks”–and after earmarking Rs 250 crore to install bio-toilets on remaining trains by March 2019, the railway ministry is now considering “upgraded” vacuum bio-toilets at a cost of Rs 6,250 crore.

“We have started experimenting with vacuum bio-toilets like those in an aeroplane,” Railway Minister Piyush Goyal told PTI. “Some 500 vacuum bio-toilets have been ordered and once the experiment is successful, I am willing to spend money to replace all the 2.5 lakh toilets in the trains with vacuum bio-toilets.”

Vacuum toilets, which cost around Rs 2.5 lakh per unit, will be odour-free, will cut down water use by 1/20th and have fewer chances of getting blocked, he added.

This takes the cost to Rs 6,250 crore.

In addition, vacuum toilets will need to be emptied and cleaned in rail yards.

As of May 31, 136,965 bio-toilets have been fitted in 37,411 coaches, at a cost of around Rs 1 lakh per toilet, according to railway ministry officials quoted by the PTI. This brings the expenditure to about Rs 1,370 crore.

There is a plan to install bio-toilets in around 18,750 more coaches by March 2019, when all the coaches of the Indian Railways will be fitted with such toilets, costing the national transporter around Rs 250 crore, the PTI release added.

The technology–and the criticism

Indian Railways are often described as the world’s biggest toilet: They eject around 3,980 tonnes of faecal matter–the equivalent of 497 truck-loads (at 8 tonnes per truck)–onto rail tracks every day, according to a report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2013.

Bio-toilets are small-scale sewage-treatment systems beneath the toilet seat: Bacteria in a compost chamber digest human excreta, leaving behind water and methane. Only the water, disinfected later, is let out on the tracks. That’s how they were supposed to work.

But, signs of failure came early.

In 2007, an experts committee headed by Vinod Tare, a professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, had concluded that bio-toilets developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) were not workable. “Yet, the Indian Railways went ahead with the decision to proliferate this model,” Tare told IndiaSpend in this January 7, 2018, interview.

Sanitation experts and various studies–including commissioned by the railways–have pointed out that most of the new “bio-toilets” on Indian trains are ineffective or ill maintained and the water discharged no better than raw sewage, as IndiaSpend reported on November 23, 2017.

Lokendra Singh, former director of the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), had, after an expedition to Antarctica, brought home psychrophilic bacteria that can survive in extremely low temperatures. The bacteria were mixed with cow dung and normal soil, which have methogens (microorganisms that produce methane) capable of breaking down human excreta. This was then supplied to the manufacturers of rail bio-digesters.

Singh’s claims of a scientific breakthrough were questioned: The bacterium did not have independent third-party certification, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) did not have a patent for the design and manufacture of bio-toilets, and once the tank is filled, human excreta is allowed to drop down onto the tracks.

A December 2017 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on these bio-toilets echoed the findings of our November 2017 investigation into their widespread malfunctioning: The CAG found 199,689 defects in 25,000 toilets. Some major issues were:

Highest number of problems/ defects (41,111) found at the Bengaluru coaching depot, followed by Gorakhpur (24,495) and Wadi Bunder (22,521);
Complaints per bio-toilet were highest at the Bengaluru coaching deport (98), followed by Wadi Bunder (32), Rameshwaram (28) and Gwalior (17);
Of the 102,792 instances of choking, 10,098 (10%) cases reported in March 2017;
Of the 102,792 cases of choking in 25,080 bio-toilets, the highest (34%) were reported from Bengaluru. This implied that one bio-toilet got choked 83 times a year;
Choking incidents have risen from 2015-16: One bio-toilet got choked four times a year during 2016-17.

Responding to the CAG findings, the railway ministry said its criticism was “not correct” and that “some problems of choking were occurring on account of misuse of toilets by passengers”. An official note from December 20, 2017, said: “These issues are being dealt with promptly.”

The denial

The railways ministry responded to our November 2017 investigation, pointing out what it calls “factual inaccuracies” and a lack of “technological understanding”. We had published the rejoinder verbatim, with our response:

The ministry said the IIT Madras study was conducted “on stationary toilets on selected 15 field installed units and 6 units installed at IIT Madras Campus with bio-digesters based on DRDO technology”, and not on railway coaches. “There is absolutely no difference,” professor Ligy Philip of IIT Madras had told us. “The same technology and the same bacteria is being used for both the land-based and the train bio-digesters.”
“It is not correct to say that bio-toilets in coaches are ineffective or ill-maintained,” the ministry said, adding that periodic tests are conducted to ensure that the discharged water meets specific norms. However, agenda papers of a Railway Board meeting in October 2017 showed that bio-toilets have not passed the performance tests.
“DRDE has more than a dozen national and foreign patents not only on the basic technology but also on the bio-digester fitted in railway coaches,” the ministry said. However, the patent is for engineering and septic tank design. There is no mention on the use of the Antarctica bacteria to aid the bio-digestion process.
The ministry said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the DRDO in March 2010. However, the patent for engineering and septic tank design was awarded in 2015–five years after the MoU for supply of bio-toilets was signed.

The policy U-turn

As a possible solution, IndiaSpend had offered the ‘zero-discharge toilets’ developed by IIT Kanpur.

“IIT Kanpur developed ‘zero-discharge toilets’ which have a separator to segregate the solid matter of human excreta from the liquid portion,” Tare, the professor, told us. “The liquid portion, after treatment, can be used for flushing, while the solid waste can be evacuated at junctions with the aid of assembly suction pumps. Human excreta–mixed with cow dung–could subsequently be used for vermi-composting.”

The railway ministry rejected this solution saying the system “involves installation of ground handling facility to evacuate retention tanks at the terminals”.

“This involves huge infrastructure cost, man-power, terminals are landlocked, inter- track distance is not uniform everywhere,” the ministry said. “Whereas, in IR-DRDO system, waste is treated on-board itself and thus no ground infrastructure is required. Thus, IR-DRDO bio-toilets being proliferated over IR, is a better solution.”

Vacuum toilets, such as those used in aeroplanes, as we said, will need evacuation facilities and treatment plants–which will come at an additional cost to the Rs 6,250 crore likely to be spent on replacing the bio-toilets.

Drdo

‘Can’t fight tomorrow’s war with yesterday’s weapons, incorporate AI’: DG Artillery

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Several scientists from the Armament Cluster of the DRDO, representatives of the industry and students are attending the conference in Armament Technology in Pashan, Pune.

Written by Sushant Kulkarni | Pune | June 9, 2018 – The Indian Express

ARDE Director K M Rajan and Lt Gen P K Srivastava.

“Tomorrow’s wars can’t be fought with yesterday’s technology,” said Lieutenant General P K Srivastava, Director General of the Artillery of the Indian Army, and urged the Armament scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to delve more into Artificial Intelligence for future warfare.

Lt Gen Srivastava, who is also the Colonel Commandant of Regiment of Artillery of the Indian Army, was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the two-day National Conference on Advances in Armament Technology (NCAAT 2018), which has been organised at Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), a DRDO laboratory located at Pashan in Pune.

Several scientists from the Armament Cluster of the DRDO, representatives of the industry and students are attending the conference.

“There is a need for us come out of the concepts on which we are fixated… the world is changing. We live in one of the worst neighbourhoods. If we have to become a power of reckoning, we will have to possess a weapons systems of the future. We can’t be fighting tomorrow’s war with weapons from yesterday. Right now, we are building weapons of yesterday, with more and more efficiency. To build weapons of tomorrow, we need scientists, who know warfare, and we need soldiers who understand technology.”

He added, “Whatever weapon systems we are developing, we should embed artificial intelligence. If that happens, we could look at missiles that are completely automated. We need weapon systems which are intelligent and less and less manpower intensive. I also expect the Armament Cluster of the DRDO to not just develop weapon systems but also come up with ideas for the next generation of warfare. India’s strengths have been software, computers, artificial intelligence and robotics, and we need to further incorporate these into our weapons systems. Our engineers and scientists are working all over the world. We need to utilise our human resources to change the paradigm of the warfare in the subcontinent.”

Responding to Gen Srivastava’s speech, senior DRDO scientist P K Mehta, who heads the Armament Cluster of the DRDO, said after the inaugural ceremony, “There are already some ongoing projects in Artificial Intelligence and unmanned systems. Some laboratories have started incorporating them in the existing products. But it needs to be pointed out that the user, which is the armed forces, does not have a line directorate for the induction of the Artificial Intelligence and unmanned systems. We should have a long term roadmap in the area, which is not there right now. The country, as a whole, needs to have a roadmap for that. The DRDO can certainly help in forming that.”

K M Rajan, director of ARDE, said, “The process of incorporating AI systems into Armament has started at the basic level. We hope to do it more in the future.”