The government has stepped up efforts to strengthen Research and Development in the defence manufacturing sector through expanded industry partnerships, zero-fee technology transfers, enhanced support for startups, and increased funding for innovation. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Defence for State Sanjay Seth said initiatives such as the Technology Development Fund, iDEX, Dare to Dream, and new DRDO policies are accelerating indigenous capability development, with 148 new Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) R&D projects sanctioned in the last three years.
The minister listed out the initiatives taken by the government to enhance R&D in Defence manufacturing. DRDO has implemented the DcPP model to identify potential manufacturing agencies through competitive processes involving both public and private sector and transfer the manufacturing technology to meet production requirements.
Further, 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 fee for Development cum Production Partner (DcPP)/ Production Agency (PA)/ Development Partner (DP). Consultancy Services of DRDO Scientists to industry is made available. The policy for free area of DRDO Patents by Indian Industries has been implemented, the minister said in his reply.
Highlighting the Technology Development Fund (TDF), the minister said the TDF Scheme is a program of MoD executed by DRDO to encourage participation of public/private industries especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)/Startups and to promote self-reliance in Defence technology as part of Make-in-India initiative. The projects sanctioned through TDF have also seen a lot of successes with 26 technologies successfully developed and two of the project systems flown in Space as part of PSLV mission. In line with the government mandate, a corpus of Rs 500 crore has been additionally sanctioned towards TDF Scheme with focus towards Deep-Tech and cutting edge technologies.
Further, DRDO is coming up with a new policy to facilitate easier interaction with these emerging startups. This policy aims to streamline the process of engaging with start-ups and leveraging their innovative ideas for defence applications.
Sanjay Seth further stated that four Dare to Dream contests have been successfully conducted which were aimed at creation of an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Start-ups and individual innovators and engaging them to carry out R&D development which has good potential for future adoption for Indian Defence and aerospace needs.
“Several world class R&D test facilities in DRDO Labs have now been opened for industries and necessary SOP has been formulated. Test facilities of 24 DRDO labs have been uploaded on the Defence Testing Portal (DTP), a platform of MoD for offering the Ministry’s test infrastructure to Defence industries in a more transparent manner. Industry Interaction Groups (IIGs) have been established in labs to facilitate industries,” the minister added.
The government has also opened up a 25% Defence R&D Budget for Industry, startups and Academia. DRDO has a policy and mechanism for collaborative directed 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.
DRDO is also supporting Uttar Pradesh Industrial Corridor and Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor by collaborating with Industries as knowledge partner. The corridors have been established to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ and to realise the goal of ‘Make in India’.