Defence Research and Development Organisation

The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is an Indian government agency tasked with research and development by the military, with headquarters in Delhi , India. It was created by the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Indian Ordnance Factories Directorate of Technical Development and Production with the Defense Science Organisation, in 1958. It is under the administrative control of the Government of India's Ministry of Defence.With a network of 52 laboratories, which are engaged in developing defence technologies covering various fields, like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, land combat engineering, life sciences, materials, missiles, and naval systems, DRDO is India's largest and most diverse research organisation. The organisation includes about 5,000 scientists belonging to the Defence Research & Development Service and about 25,000 other scientific , technical and supporting staff.

The DRDO was created in 1958 by amalgamating the Defense Science Organization and some of the establishments for technical development. In 1980, a separate Research and Development Department of Defense was formed, which later administered DRDO and its 50 laboratories / establishments. The Military Research Technology Agency has been handled most of the time as if it were a distributor and customers were the Army Headquarters or the Air Headquarters.As the Army and the Air Force themselves had no responsibility for design or construction, they preferred to view the designer or the Indian industry on a par with their equivalent manufacturer in the international market. They wanted a MiG-21 from DRDO, if they could get a MiG-21 from the world market.

In the 1960s DRDO began its first major project in surface-to - air missiles (SAM), known as the Indigo Project. In later years Indigo was discontinued without achieving full success. Project Indigo led Project Devil to develop the short-range SAM and ICBM in the 1970s along with Project Valiant.In the 1980s, Project Devil itself contributed to the eventual development of the Prithvi missile under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP). IGMDP was an Indian Ministry of Defense program for the production of a extensive array of missiles between the early 1980s and 2007, including Agni missiles, Prithvi ballistic missiles, Akash missiles, Trishul missiles and Nag missiles.In 2010 Minister of Defence A. K. Antony ordered the DRDO restructuring to give 'a major boost to the country's defense research and to ensure the private sector's effective participation in defense technology.' The key measures for making DRDO operational include setting up a Defense Technology Commission with the Minister of Defense as its chairman.DRDO 's predominantly controlled projects have seen considerable success with many of the systems seeing quick deployment as well as major technical advantages. DRDO has produced many big systems and essential technology since its inception, such as aircraft avionics, UAVs, small arms, artillery systems, EW systems, tanks and armoured vehicles, sonar systems, guidance and control systems, and missile systems.