DRDO sanctioned 148 new projects: MoS Defence

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has sanctioned a total of 148 new research and development projects in the last three years, the Government informed Parliament on Monday.

Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth, in a written response to a query in Rajya Sabha, also said the Department of Defence Research and Development has a policy and mechanism for collaborative research in developing critical and futuristic technologies for defence and security applications through a network of DRDO Industry Academia-Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE).

“A total of 15 DIA-CoEs have been established, which are steering translational research activities in nearly 82 identified research verticals,” he said. The ministry was asked about the steps taken by the Government to enhance research and development in defence manufacturing.

It was also asked about details of various research operations taken up by defence organisations during the last three years, along with the amount sanctioned and utilised for the research operations. “DRDO has sanctioned a total of 148 new R&D projects in the last three years,” Seth said. In his response, he also shared a tabulated data showing details of budget estimates (BE), revised estimates (RE) and actual allocations in respect of the Department of Defence Research and Development, along with actual expenditure for the last three years, along with allocations —budget estimates for the year 2025-26.

The BE approved for the different FYs are —Rs 21,330.20 crore for 2022-23, Rs 23,263.89 crore for 2023-24, Rs 23,855.61 crore for 2024-25 and Rs 26,816.82 crore for 2025-26. Seth also said the DRDO has developed a “pool of 2,000 industries” to manufacture sub-systems, systems and equipment.

“The technology of DRDO-developed systems are transferred to Indian industries at zero ToT (transfer of technology) fee for development-cum-production partner (DcPP)/ Production Agency (PA)/ Development Partner (DP). Consultancy services of DRDO scientists to industry is made available,” he said.

Also, the DRDO is coming up with a “new policy” to facilitate easier interaction with emerging start-ups.

“This policy aims to streamline the process of engaging with start-ups and leveraging their innovative ideas for defence applications,” the minister said.