DRDO chief slams import-happy armed forces

New Delhi: Seizing an opportunity at the National Technology Day awards function the Defence Research and Development Organisation chief, Dr VK Saraswat, delivered some home truths to the country's armed forces. He advised an import happy services to try and curb their "temptation" to continually import latest weapon systems from abroad.

Dr VK Saraswat, chief, DRDO

Letting loose a well-timed volley, as the prime minister along with all three service chiefs and the defence minister were present at the ceremony, Dr Saraswat said it was grossly unfair to hold just the DRDO responsible for the poor level of self-reliance in defence systems.

"The responsibility should be shared by all stake-holders of defence ministry and cannot be placed on DRDO alone, which neither has the power to impose its products on its customer (forces), nor the mandate or capacity to produce the developed systems all by themselves," he said.

"Services also must understand that while the temptation may be overwhelming to field proven, state-of-the-art imported systems, they too have a role to play in the country's economic and industrial growth. No foreign system can be customised to completely address our long-term requirements," he added.

At the ceremony Saraswat listed out DRDO's current achievements, which range from launch of India's first nuclear submarine INS Arihant to the planned test of the 5,000-km range Agni-V ballistic missile in 2011.

Some of the awards given out on the occasion went for development of systems and platforms such as the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, the Nag anti-tank guided missile and Astra air-to-air missile.