Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asked scientists to speed up their research and deliver critical technologies on time for the nation to achieve self-reliance to keep pace with competitors in defence technology.

Addressing defence scientists here on the occasion of National Technology Day, the PM said that,??In many areas we have moved fast but less than that of our competitors. It is a fact our current level of self-reliance in defence R&D (research and development) is less than our capabilities and it needs to be stepped up significantly.??

Asking scientists to make sure they have the capacity and the will to compete, innovate and deliver on time in the wake of rapidly changing technology, Singh noted: ??It is a fact that some defence projects have been delayed and faced difficulties during the stage of operational induction.??

Urging the Defence Research and Development Organisation to work closely with the armed forces and industry, Singh said that, ??We should be able to acknowledge and learn from our setbacks and it is essential that DRDO work more closely with the armed forces as well as the industry.??

In a statement DRDO chief VK Saraswat called upon the three Services to overcome their temptation to induct the latest weaponary from abroad. ??We must strive for leadership in R&D in defence technologies. I would urge all of you to think big and to act with a strong sense of self-belief, nationalistic spirit and the desire to excel.??

Welcoming the defence ministry’s initiative to restructure the DRDO following the Rama Rao panel report and the Offset Policy to spur private sector role in the defence industry, Saraswat allayed the pitfalls of wanton import of weapons and defence hardware.

The DRDO chief said that the successful missile development programme and the development of the Light Combat Aircraft ‘LCA Tejas’ has given the country a strong base in the aerospace industry, so much so that most of the international aerospace majors have decided to set up R&D/production facilities in India in the last few years.

According to him, the DRDO is also actively engaged in combating emerging internal security threats.

“In view of the emerging threat scenario in sub-conventional warfare, DRDO has proactively undertaken the task of familiarising India’s paramilitary forces with the products and technologies available for their use and plan to launch new initiatives in surveillance, early detection and warning systems to tackle the growing menace,” he said.

He said the DRDO expects to conduct a test flight of the indigenously developed ‘Agni-5’, the entirely solid fuel Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a range of 5,000 kms, by next year. “With this, DRDO would have given India a comprehensive indigenous strategic capability, available with only a few nations of the world,” he said.

Quoting a study by the reputed independent evaluation agency ‘National Council of Applied Economic Research’, Saraswat, who is also the scientific advisor to the defence minister, refuted criticism that the huge sums of money being pumped into the DRDO during the last five decades has not been productive.

“The total production value of the major systems inducted into the Services has reached a (whopping) figure of Rs. 68,000/- crores during the last decade, with the modest R&D investment of about Rs. 3,000/- crores per year,” he said, adding, “self-reliance index will certainly be enhanced with new major systems like MBT, LCA, Radars and Electronic Warfare Systems being inducted into Services.”

While presenting a roadmap, Saraswat said the DRDO’s goals would focus on Space and Cyber Security, Hypersonic Vehicles, Directed Energy Weapons and Smart Materials, Composites and MEMS (Micro-Electromechanical Systems) -based Sensors.