Defence Research and Development: International Approaches for Analysing the Indian Programme

The Occasional Paper attempts to analyse the performance of India's defence research and development machinery and especially that of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It first reviews the current state of global R&D and considers the strong and inherent linkages of civil R&D to that of the military and vice-versa. This is followed by identifying the best international practices that have been adopted in defence R&D by the world's leading R&D nations i.e. the US and China. Such an examination helps in bringing out crucial and important experiences. The Paper finally concludes by bringing out the lessons and concurrently suggesting the way ahead for India.

About the Author

Brig Ranjit Ghosh is a Senior Fellow at the Defence Economics and Industry Centre of IDSA. He has had varied operational and staff experience of around 32 years in the Army. As Commandant and Managing Director of an Army Base Workshop, he was responsible for planning and executing the re-capitalisation programme of Infantry Combat Vehicles and Armoured Recovery Vehicles of the Indian Army. As Deputy Director General at the Integrated Headquarters of MoD (Army), he was associated with the ongoing defence procurements and handled the Ordnance Factories, DPSU's, DRDO and the Private Sector, on issues relating to induction and sustenance engineering activities of military equipment and systems. He is an alumni of IIT Madras and stood first in order of merit while specialising in Maintenance Engineering and Management during the M-Tech programme. He also has a Masters in Management Studies from the Osmania University in Defence Management.