The DRDO will soon produce the world’s lightest bullet proof fabric in collaboration with academia. DRDO chairman Dr Satheesh Reddy said during the valedictory of Defence & Technology Expo Empowering MSME at Chennai, on 28 May, that the bullet proof fabric would be one of the many innovations in R&D in defence being done with the help of academia and industry at DRDO’s centres of excellence.
“DRDO has 10 centres of excellence in R&D which have been renamed into DIA-CoE (DRDO, Academia and Industry- Centre of Excellence). With these syncretic efforts, the world’s lightest bullet proof fabric is set to come out from the centres.”
These centres will work with academia and the industry to develop critical technology for enabling futuristic requirements of armed forces.
“DRDO will extend all support to the corridor by giving technology support, facilities and help in R&D. The government has been encouraging private industries to develop components, systems and subsystems for defence equipment.”
Stating that the scenarios had changed, Reddy said that the industry had migrated from “build to print” to “build to specifications” in the recent years. Going with this, the government opened new sectors to private. Missiles, guns, bombs radars are now being produced by private companies.
Understanding this trend, DRDO had moved from Technology Transfer Documents (TTD) to Development cum Production Partner (DcPP) to make the industries a concurrent partner from the beginning of the process, he said.
