Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday remembered former President APJ Abdul Kalam on his 90th birth anniversary.   PM Modi wrote a tweet in Hindi in which he called Kalam, ‘a source of inspiration for countrymen’.   Known as India’s Missile Man, PM Modi said Dr APJ Abdul Kalam dedicated his life in making India strong, prosperous and capable.   Born […]

New Delhi Sep 21 PTI India has achieved complete self-reliance in missile technology and the most advanced missiles can now be developed in the country DRDO chairmanG Satheesh Reddy said on Tuesday Delivering a lecture during an online event hosted by the JNU he also asserted that if a country has to become prosperous and Atmanirbhar self-reliant we need to work on advance technology and that is where the role of academic institutions will come in a big way Reddy recalled the decades of 1980s and 90s in the evolution of theDefence Research and Development Organisation DRDO and hailed the role of scientists including former president APJ Abdul Kalam known as the Missile Man of India who worked on missile technologies that provided a quantum jump in development of advanced systems and platforms He mentioned thefive missiles -- Prithvi Agni Akash Trishul Nag -- developed by India under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme IGMDP We developedPrithvi Agni Akash Trishul Nag under the IGMDP Agni was also a technology demonstrator for the country in going out of the atmosphere and returning to the atmosphere And then we joined a select club of countries with ballistic missiles which can intercept an enemy missile and kill it And then many more missiles with long-range and more capabilities he said Today I can confidently say that we are having complete Atmanirbharta in the missile technology and we can develop the most advanced missiles in the country Reddy said He also spoke about the anti-satellite A-SAT test that India conducted in March 2019 shooting down one of its satellites in space with an A-SAT missile to demonstrate this complex capability joining the elite club of countries -- the US Russia and China -- which have such capabilities The lecture on Defence Technologies for Indias National Security was organised by the School of Engineering of the JNU and its vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar several faculty and students also attended the online event Reddy who is secretary Department of Defence RD also asserted that in the last six-seven years he has seen various students and innovators going beyond ICT and choosing subjects like material science that will be important in the sector of defence technologies He pitched for academic institutions to play a larger role in achieving the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat Today if our country has to be self-reliant if we have to become Atmanirbhar and prosperous we need to work on advance technology and that is where the role of academic institutions will come in a big way Reddy said He spoke of the centres of excellence that have come up at various IITs and opportunities for students to work as a junior research fellow and a senior research fellow at DRDO In the advanced technology domain he said some of the areas in which DRDO is working include anti-drone system artificial intelligence AI cyberspace secure systems and communications PTI KND RT RT