New Delhi, Dec 14 :Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Today handed over five Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed products to the Armed forces and other security agencies at an event held at DRDO Bhawan as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations and iconic week of Ministry of Defence.

He also handed over six Transfer of Technology (ToT) agreements to seven public and private sector companies. Earlier DRDO organised a Seminar on “Preparing For The Future” where Vice Chiefs of the Armed Forces and DRDO Scientists shared their views.

Rajnath Singh said, “When we talk about integration and jointness, it is not limited to initiatives taken by government alone. Its success has to be achieved by meeting of minds of our defence forces. It is an effort to jointly enhance our capabilities to face the challenges posed by our adversaries.”

“The integration we talk about, is not limited to our the forces but also it means synergy among every concerned organisation in the country,” he added.

He added that there has been a big change over the last few years in the approach of DRDO whereby it was not only working on technologies to mitigate current threats but also on first-of-its-kind technologies to face the future challenges.

On the objective of making India a strong platform of defence manufacturing base and net defence exporter, Singh said DRDO has played a significant role in this endeavour.

Paying tribute to late Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat and others who lost their lives in an air crash recently, the Minister said that the process of integration and modernisation of Tri-Services that was initiated with creation of post of CDS and Department of Military Affairs will move on seamlessly and will be priority of the government to achieve the target as soon as possible.

Emphasizing the role of technology in warfare, Singh said our aim should be to make India a leader in the defence technology and identified development of Hypersonic cruise missile as one such advanced technology for which all should work together.

Products handed over to the Armed Forces and Ministry of Home Affairs are Anti-Drone system, Modular Bridge, Smart Anti Airfield Weapon, Chaff Variants and the Light Weight Fire Fighting Suit. The counter drone systems, developed by DRDO for detection, deterrence and destruction of incoming drones was handed over to the CISC by the Raksha Mantri. He also handed over the Modular Bridge to the Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane. Modular bridge developed by R&DE (Engineers) is a single span, mechanically launched assault bridge of military load class MLC-70, and can be launched in different spans.

The Defence Minister handed over Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW), an air launched, long-range, stand-off, air-to-surface Smart Bomb, to the Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari.

The variants of Advanced Chaff were handed over to the Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar. Structural fire-fighting suit developed by DRDO’s Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), Delhi was handed over to V S K Kaumudi, Special Secretary, MHA.

The LAToT documents of seven DRDO developed systems were handed over during the event for the systems/technologies namely Coastal Surveillance Radar, Automatic Chemical Agent Detection and Alarm (ACADA) & Chemical Agent Monitor (CAM), Unit Maintenance Vehicle, Unit Repair Vehicle, Fused Silica based Ceramic Core technology and the Fire Suppressing Gel.

Secretary, DDR&D and Chairman, DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy; Vice Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Staff, other senior civil and military officials of Ministry of Defence and Home Affairs were also present on the occasion.(UNI)