Welcome back to India Defence Online...If you haven't done so yet, subscribe to the RSS feed as it will save you a lot of time. Thanks for following the site!
The Indian government is in the process of finalizing the restructuring of its premier defence organization, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). It will be transformed into to a leaner organization matching the efficiency levels of western countries.
Over the next couple of years, the 50 research laboratories under DRDO will function and develop with collaborative efforts and witness private sector involvement. An in-principle approval has been given by the Indian government for restructuring the DRDO on the basis of the Rama Rao committee’s recommendations.
According to the Indian government’s plan, the restructuring of the DRDO will involve the consolidation of its laboratories into a smaller unit. An implementation committee will be formed by the government. Hence, the 50 laboratories will fall under the umbrella of roughly 8 centres which will specialize and focus on diverse segments like aeronautics, combat systems, naval systems, weapons systems and electronic warfare.
DRDO also feels that it requires a higher budgetary allocation since indigenous research and development as well as production has a lot of scope considering India imports roughly $8 billion of defence equipment. Currently, DRDO accounts for 5 per cent of the defence budget. It is now requesting the government to raise that level up to 8-10 per cent.
In 2008, the DRDO review committee formed by the Ministry of Defence submitted its report aiming to transform the DRDO into a more efficient organization and eliminate delays in various projects for serving the critical needs of the armed forces. Former science and technology secretary P Rama Rao headed the review committee and the report blamed inadequate project planning for time and cost overruns of DRDO projects.
Defence analysts feel that while greater participation of the private sector will help in developing better systems and technology, it is the internal restructuring which is more crucial for DRDO’s output levels and efficiency.
Even a closer alliance and cooperation with the Indian Armed Forces will go a long way in improving the organization. Lack of these crucial issues has reflected a poor display of projects like the Light Combat Aircraft, surface-to-air missile, Akash and several others.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
