Endeavours in Self-Reliance: Defence Research (1983–2018)

About the book

A historical account of Defence Research and Development in India is presented covering the period 1983 – 2018 which were decades of explosive growth and achievements, expectations and challenges. Annual budget grew from Rs. 300 crores to Rs. 17,000 crores. Output of the defence R&D efforts measured by financial value of indigenous production achieved went up steeply to Rs. 300,000 crores. Hundreds of development projects were completed covering every aspect of defence requirement. Through the efforts of a single generation of scientists, soldiers, managers and policy makers, the indigenous capabilities in nuclear weapons, guided missiles, fighter aircraft, aerial early warning system, UAVs, battle tanks, artillery guns, rocket launchers, strategic submarines, underwater sensors, torpedoes, radars, communications, electronic warfare and other domains including life support measures for the warfighters were inducted in service use. This chronicle describes the huge efforts made by the establishments under the aegis of the Department of Defence Research and Development, as succinctly and spontaneously as possible, based on the reports and descriptions rendered by the laboratories and by major contributors who participated in the vast national endeavour.

About the Author

Dr KG Narayanan, Principal Editor of this volume completed his career in DRDO as the Chief Advisor at DRDO Headquarters after having been a member of its scientific workforce from 1965 to 2002. He contributed to several of the development programmes described here. He led two of the major laboratories–Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) during the years 1986-2001. He also worked in the Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL) earlier and at DRDO Headquarters, thus acquiring a breadth of professional experience. Dr Narayanan is a BSc of Madras University, BTech. (Hons.) of IIT, Kharagpur and PhD of IISc. Bangalore. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, a Distinguished Alumnus of IIT, Kharagpur and a recipient of several honours including the Systems Society Gold medal and DS Kothari Award of the Indian Science Congress Association. His current interests include history of Indian science and society.