New Delhi: An anti-drone system, a modular bridge, a smart anti-airfield weapon, chaff variants and a lightweight fire fighting suit—all five products developed by the premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)—were handed over by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the armed forces and the security agencies on Tuesday.
The DRDO-developed counter drone systems were equipped with capabilities to detect, deter and destroy incoming drones.
The modular bridge, handed over to Army chief General M M Naravane, is a single span, mechanically-launched assault bridge of military load class MLC-70, and can be launched in different spans.
The SAAW (Smart Anti Airfield Weapon) is an air-launched, long-range, stand-off, an air-to-surface smart bomb that was handed over to the IAF chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari while the variants of advanced chaff were handed over to the Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar.
The structural fire-fighting suit was handed over to V S K Kaumudi, special secretary, MHA.
The handing over event took place at the DRDO Bhawan in the national capital.
Complimenting the DRDO, Singh said there has been a big change over the last few years in the approach of DRDO whereby it was not only working on technologies to mitigate current threats but also on first-of-its-kind technologies to face the future challenges.
Underlining the critical role of military technology in general and the development of hypersonic cruise missiles in particular, the defence minister said the aim should be to make India a leader in defence technology.
He pointed out that DRDO was already working on smart materials, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning based systems, swarm drones, asymmetric warfare etc.
Earlier, the DRDO organised a seminar themed “Preparing For The Future” where vice-chiefs of the Armed Forces and DRDO scientists shared their views.
The defence minister also pointed out that the government is working in a concerted manner to realize the objective of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for the World’ by bringing in several policy reforms such as increasing FDI in the Defence sector through an automatic route to 74 percent, corporatisation of OFB, creation of defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, formulation of Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020, bringing out positive lists of defence items for domestic manufacturing etc.
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