148 DRDO R&D projects approved in three years as Centre boosts defence innovation

The government on Monday told Rajya Sabha that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has sanctioned 148 new research and development projects in the last three years as part of efforts to strengthen defence innovation.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth said the Department of Defence Research and Development has a policy and mechanism to support collaborative research on critical and futuristic technologies through the DRDO Industry Academia-Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE) network.

“A total of 15 DIA-CoEs have been established which are steering translational research activities in nearly 82 identified research verticals,” he said.

Seth was responding to questions on the government’s steps to enhance research and development in defence manufacturing and on research operations undertaken by defence organisations over the last three years, including sanctioned and utilised amounts.

“DRDO has sanctioned a total of 148 new R&D projects in the last three years,” he said.

The minister also shared tabulated data outlining budget estimates (BE), revised estimates (RE), actual allocations and actual expenditure for the Department of Defence Research and Development for the last three financial years, along with BE for 2025-26.

The approved BEs are: Rs 21,330.20 crore for 2022-23, Rs 23,263.89 crore for 2023-24, Rs 23,855.61 crore for 2024-25 and Rs 26,816.82 crore for 2025-26.

Seth said the DRDO has developed a “pool of 2,000 industries” involved in manufacturing sub-systems, systems and equipment.

“The technology of DRDO-developed systems are transferred to Indian industries at zero ToT (transfer of technology) fee for development-cum-production partner (DcPP)/ Production Agency (PA)/ Development Partner (DP). Consultancy services of DRDO scientists to industry is made available,” he said.

He added that the organisation is preparing a “new policy” to facilitate easier engagement with emerging start-ups.

“This policy aims to streamline the process of engaging with start-ups and leveraging their innovative ideas for defence applications,” Seth said.

The government is also promoting partnerships between the public and private sectors through initiatives such as the Technology Development Fund (TDF), Dare to Dream, ToT, DcPP and iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence), he noted.

In response to a separate query, the minister said six Sainik Schools are yet to sign their Memoranda of Agreement (MoA) with state governments.

“There are Six Sainik Schools that are yet to sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with state government. The list is placed at Annexure. The MoAs are required to be signed by the concerned state governments,” he said.

The schools awaiting MoAs are Sainik School Nagrota (Jammu & Kashmir), Sainik School Sujanpur Tira (Himachal Pradesh), Sainik School Kunjpura (Haryana), Sainik School Imphal (Manipur), Sainik School Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) and Sainik School Amaravathinagar (Tamil Nadu).