The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to recruit 3,000 young engineering graduates in the next 10 years to create a young talent pool in the country and improve research in the defence sector.

The DRDO employs 7,000 scientists in various research and development projects, the director, Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), P. Sivakumar, said on Wednesday whle inaugurating Kurukshetra, Anna University’s annual technical festival.

The organisation would recruit 300 to 400 young engineering graduates every year for the next 10 years, he said. “These engineering graduates will be recruited after they clear the scientist entrance test (SET) to be conducted by DRDO and get training at Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT),” he said.

Sivakumar pointed out that those who get recruited in DRDO would get a salary of `50,000 per month, and said that the Union government pays an attractive salary on a par with the private sector.
“The defence sector in India offers a challenging job for youngsters. As a scientist in DRDO you can do Ph.D and even go abroad for study,” he said.

Sivakumar said that DRDO and CVRDE had embarked on a mission to develop unmanned vehicles. “Today you do not have high intensity warfare but we are fighting low intensity warfare with naxalites and terrorists. So DRDO is working to develop weapons to combat them,” he said.

The CVRDE director also exhorted students to join the Union government’s mission to provide safe potable drinking water. “The buzzword today after RTI is right to water (RTW) such is the necessity for safe drinking water,” he said.