Sep 12, 2010

Technology Development by DRDO

            The Defence Technology Commission is expected to expand the scope of technology development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The role of Defence Technology Commission (DTC) will be to issue policy guidelines for (DRDO) with an aim to enhance self-reliance in Defence preparedness. DRDO will provide inputs on issues related to the technologies and systems through Secretary, Department of Defence R&D. The Secretariat of DTC will be run by the DRDO.

            The Ministry of Defence also claimed that the DRDO is fully focussed towards enhancing self-reliance in military hardware. However, achieving self-reliance in this area is a joint responsibility that has to be met through national efforts by all Government agencies including Ministry of Defence (MoD), Defence Industries (both public and private), Ordnance Factories (OFs) and DRDO. As per provisions in defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) for “MAKE” category, DRDO is concentrating only on development of strategic, complex and security sensitive systems. DRDO has developed a number of military hardware, which has already been inducted into Armed Forces, besides a large numbers are in the process of development, production and induction.

            DRDO has also been developing need based products for Armed Forces operating at high altitudes, deserts, rain forest, deep sea, etc. to increase their operational efficiency. These products are extremely useful in protecting our soldiers against adverse environmental condition. Technologies, developed by DRDO, have been transferred to industries for their bulk production to meet the demands of Armed Forces. There are no financial constraints in DRDO to attract trained talents. Sixth Central Pay Commission has also recommended a number of incentives for scientists which have been accepted and implemented by the Government. As a result, attrition of scientists has also been reduced considerably in DRDO.

            In a recent development the DRDO has developed a state-of-the-art Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS) at the cost of ` 25 crores. The hardware for the system has been developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore with the active participation of four private sector Indian firms. The new system will reduce the training cost of a pilot considerably. The new system will be available for selection of pilots at Air Force Selection Boards located at Dehradun, Mysore and Varanasi. The system has been developed for the selection of pilots for state-of-the-art modern aircraft of IAF. It has been developed by Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), Delhi, a premier institute of DRDO in collaboration with Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore. The CPSS is a state-of-the-art embedded micro controller based pilot selection system, with built in security features that comprehensively evaluates the qualities required by the pilots including cognitive psychomotor skills.

            The system captures accurate, reliable and high-speed data relating to the skills of “a candidate” appearing for pilot selection. It has been designed with built-in diagnostic facilities for ease of maintenance. The tests comprehensively evaluate the qualities required for the military pilot such as psychomotor skills, information processing skills (speed and accuracy), coordination, visualization, time-sharing, etc. by subjecting the candidate to perform concurrent multiple tasks. The hardware for the system has been developed by ADE and the “Software” for cognitive and psychomotor tests by DIPR and the trial runs for the same were facilitated by the IAF. [MOD India Press release].

SEP 2010