DRDO or DODO...???

Defence Research Development Organization(DRDO)

Vision
Make India prosperous by establishing world class science and technology base and provide our Defence Services decisive edge by equipping them with
internationally competitive systems and solutions.
Mission
•Design, develop and lead to production state-of-the-art sensors, weapon systems, platforms and allied equipment for our Defence Services.

•Provide technological solutions to the Services to optimise combat effectiveness and to promote well-being of the troops.

•Develop infrastructure and committed quality manpower and build strong indigenous technology base.

Media Opinion

"India would certainly be better off without the DRDO, which has done nothing except consume ridiculous amounts of money with no positive output. At least this is what the Indian English-language media would have you believe"

"DRDO means Delayed Research and Derailed Organization"

"DRDO - THE FAILURE OF THE INDIAN RESEARCH AND THEREBY THREATENING INDIAN NATIONAL SECURITY"

"No Bang For The Buck- An annual budget of Rs 4,000 crore, 51 hi-tech laboratories... Yet India's premier defence R&D organisation—DRDO—has little to show for it."

Critics Opinion

"Well all I can say is that America can afford to waste billions of $ on any f*** thing they wish to, but we cannot afford such losses when we cannot feed one square of proper meal to all our citizens. It’s pity that we have 20.35% of population living below poverty line and this DRDO & ISRO are wasting so much of money without any accountability. Imagine how much difference all this money can make to those poor who do not have basic necessity in our country, to people who still have to walk 20 Kms to get a glass of proper drinking water."

"Sir, Intelligent people who are laborious but shy in nature, slightly unsocial or less mixing with people around, not able to fight the struggle of day to day life, generally join there. They live in anonymity, want to come to lime light with their research work for which their family suffer. Of course highly paid!!"

Part II
These article is a continuation of my previous article Part I on a "Tale of White Elephant and it`s Mother", DRDO in india is a whipping boy of indian media and the lines are strogly supported by the above opinions quoted by Media/Critics. But I Believe genuinity of a coin depends on both of it`s faces the same is true for an article, that`s why now i come up with part II of my previous article throwing light on the role of DRDO in Indain Defence.

DRDO`s SuperSixes

1. Radar systems for the Army, the Navy and the Air Force - Rajendra radar was indigenously developed by DRDO, and it is a part of Akash medium range surface-to-air missile system, During the user trial of Akash SAM it was accidently found that Rajendra can track artillery shots fired at other interim ranges and thus DRDO leveraged the Rajendra project to develop an advanced Weapon-Locating Radar (WLR), Do you Know that Indian Army had been waiting for it from long time and clear need was felt during Kargil war, where the Pakistanis had American WLRs and the Indian Army lacked a similar product due to imposed sanctions.
Tarang Radar, Tushker ECM pod and other avionics suite, built locally, costs less than 20 per cent of Western made systems, which may not even offer the same level of technology to the IAF. Do you Know that Su-30`s were not suitable for indian needs, DRDO supplied Avionics is integerated in it and thus making SU-30MKI more appealing than it`s counterpart SU-30MKK(Chinese Variant). Do you know that The Russians were so impressed by the home-grown avionics that they asked to incorporate some of the technology to the Su-30 variants they sold to Malaysia, SAAB has also shown interest in it.

2. Ship and Submarine based sonar systems for the Navy- DRDO has also produced the APSOH, Nagan, Ushus, Humsa and Panchendriya (submarine) sonars for the Indian Navy along with MIHIR Sonar for Naval version of Dhruv. Most of the Frigates, submarines and vessels ships use DRDO's Ajanta Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system. Do you know that Under the Sangraha EW program, DRDO has completed the development of five types of EW system and ost of them are used in Navy.

3. DRDO developed Electronic Warfare systems for the Army, the Air Force and the Navy - Samyuktha provides the army with the ability to detect and jam enemy communications, monitor movements. Sangraha is the EW system for Indian Navy which now has airborne, surface ship borne and submarine electronic warfare systems, Thus saving the exchequer of many crores of rupees. Do you Know the fact that Pakistan is getting advanced naval reconnaissance systems from the US under the guise of the war on terror despite of the sanctions from US.

4. The IAF is widely using the indigenous multi-mission Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), named Dhruv, developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited with support from DRDO. Dhruv has won interests of the international market like Chile. Do you Know Recently 5 were sold to Ecuadorian Airforce moreover ALH Dhruv sets a world record of flying at 27,000feets above sea level. Sitara IJT is also an acheivement for DRDO which was built in record of 22 months.

5. DRDO technology was also used in IAF's local upgrade efforts of the MiG-27 and Jaguar strike aircraft, saving millions of dollars in foreign exchange. The IAF has also lavishly praised and ordered DRDO developed Indra-II advanced low-level detection radar. Do you Know all these upgrades are reliable(can not be plagued by sanctions) and saves millions of dollar.

6. List is long and worthy more then to mention- Brahmos Supersonic stealth cruise missile, Shaurya missile, AGNI series IRBM missiles, Pinaka Multibarrel Rocket Launcher, Battlefield surveillance radar (BFSR-SR)- weighing 27kg and It is capable of detecting crawling men at 500 metres, moving groups of people at 5 km and a group of vehicles at 10 km -- a tremendous asset along the Line of Control with Pakistan. Nishant UAV, Lakshya PTA, Bridging equipment and systems for the Army- designed on the chasis of T-72, Torpedoes for the Navy, Parachute and arrester barriers for the three Services, NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) equipment for the three Services, Many products of Life Sciences for the three Services, Materials for strategic applications, Hyperbaric chamber for Navy, Terrain data and intelligence for the Army, Small arms and ammunition for the three Services, Communication and C4I systems for Army- the Shakti Artillery Combat Command Control System which connects massed artillery guns and makes them 10 times more effective.

Do You Know- "THE DRDO-DEVELOPED HYDROPHONE SYSTEM WAS USED TO DETECT GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS BURIED UNDER THE DEBRIS, BASED ON WHICH IT WAS POSSIBLE TO RESCUE FIVE PERSONS".

DRDO is clear in his Vision and Mission, and leading country towards self-reliability and saving millions of dollars to exchequer, But yet all we hear in our media is an endless stream of negativity about India's Defence R&D efforts.