Defence Research and Development Organisation keen to tie-up with academia, industry

KOCHI: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is keen to enter into fruitful collaborations with academia and industries in India and abroad, so that the synergy thus generated will propel India faster in the field of defence science and technology, said Dr S. Christopher, defence secretary (R&D) and DRDO chairman on Thursday. He was speaking at an international conference on Sonar Systems and Sensors, ‘ICONS-2018’ Karukutty near Angamaly.

The National Physical Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), eng-aged in research and development of Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR) systems and allied technologies, has always enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the Indian Navy. As a result, NPOL systems were successfully deployed on Naval ships and submarines, he said. The three-day scientific meet is organised by Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi and the systems laboratory of DRDO. The three-day meet is part of diamond jubilee celebrations of DRDO.

Speaking after inaugurating the conference, Dr K Sivan, secretary, Department of Space and ISRO chairman said that time has come for collaboration between ISRO and DRDO for fusion of technologies to make best use of both so that the net products would be useful manifold for diverse purposes. “While we talk about RADAR, you talk about SONAR. The operating principles are the same,” he said and added that there exists a big platform for cooperation.