Article Posted on : - Jun 05, 2015

NEW DELHI (PTI): G Satheesh Reddy, Distinguished Scientist of the DRDO has taken over as the Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and vowed to bring in a much-needed synergy between the armed forces, DRDO and the private sector.

He has been appointed to the post for a period of two years.

The eminent missile scientist has made pioneering contributions to navigation and avionics technologies.

"I will work to bring in synergy between the armed forces, DRDO and the industry and identify the technologies and products which are being imported today and put all-out efforts to get them 'Made in India'," he said in an official release.

Reddy emphasised on creation of a conducive eco-system for strengthening manufacturing base in the country to enable industries to be potential long-term suppliers of defence equipment.

"It is high time that modalities are to be worked out for encouraging industries to invest in R&D and make them part of major national defence programmes," he said.

He also said that there is a huge pool of talent and core expertise available in academic institutes of the country.

"I will identify the competence and promote focused research in academic institutes and harness their potential to meet the technological challenges and come up with state-of-the-art technologies," he added.

Reddy was appointed as Advisor after Parrikar decided to split the post of the Defence Research and Development Organisation chief. Earlier, the DRDO chief used to be the Advisor to the Defence Minister.

The government had last week appointed S Christopher, who heads the centre for airborne systems as the new Director General of the DRDO with the rank of a secretary.

DRDO has been functioning without a full-time head since January 31, when Avinash Chander demitted office after the government cut short his extended tenure.