Defence News: Encouraged by a series of successful missile tests over the last one month which also included an extended range Brahmos and an anti-radar missile Rudram, DRDO chief G Satheesh Reddy on Wednesday said the country can produce all kind of missiles required by Indian military.
India’s apex defence research and development organisation –DRDO – successfully conducted around 10 missile tests in the last over five weeks including that of Shaurya hypersonic missile, BrahMos extended-range missile, Prithvi nuclear-capable ballistic missile, Hypersonic missile technology development vehicles, Rudram anti-radiation missile and a Supersonic Missile Assisted Release Torpedo weapon system called SMART.
“I would like to say one thing, the way the country has evolved itself in the missile system and particularly in the last five to six years…the various developments which are gone through in various tests which are gone through, India has actually gained complete self-reliance in the area of missiles,” G Satheesh Reddy told a news agency.
“We are now able to develop any type of missile system what armed forces want,” DRDO Chief said when asked if there was no need for the armed forces to stop imports of missile systems.
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The DRDO chief said the private sector industry has also come up to a very good stage as “it is able to partner with us, they are able to develop with us, they are able to develop the system as per our specifications”.
Asked about the strength of successful missile tests at a time when India was engaged in a conflict with China in Eastern Ladakh, Reddy said the DRDO was striving itself hard to develop the state-of-art weapon systems to equip Indian military.
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ATGM Nag missile
“As part of that responsibility, DRDO has been working on many weapon systems. Even during the COVID-19 period, scientists have been continuously working on that. All have matured and hence whenever a system is ready, we are going further developmental trials,” Reddy said.
He added that as part of that effort, a number of systems have become mature today and they all have been tested in the last one and half month period.
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“The maturity level of many technologies is such that, we had very successful flights of them,” Reddy said.
Asked about DRDO’s contribution to the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, DRDO Chief said the organisation has started working in many areas to make indigenous system.
“I can very confidently tell that we are strong and we are completely self-reliant in the areas of missiles, radars, electronic warfare systems, torpedoes, guns, and communication systems and so on,” Reddy said in response to a question.
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Anti-Radar Missile
He said DRDO scientists are continuously looking at various systems which are being imported now and trying to make indigenous system and a lot of emphases is there to develop system indigenously.
“We are helping the industry in a big way and lifting them up with various systems which they need to develop on their own,” he said.
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