Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister G. Sateesh Reddy on Friday called upon the government-run research and development organisations like the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) to gear up to meet the quantum surge in demand for defence equipment and material in the next few years.
Participating in the NFC Day celebrations here on Friday, Mr. Reddy, also the Director of Research Centre Imarat (RCI), who recently took over as the Scientific Advisor, felt that research institutions like NFC and others in India need to learn to supply their indigenously-developed materials and products abroad.
“If the defence manufacturing industry in India has to survive, then we have to learn to supply world class products abroad. We have to plan for 10 to 15 years ahead or else our institutions will continue to play catch-up with the technology developed by the U.S., Europe and China-based companies,” Dr. Sateesh Reddy said. The Scientific Advisor also felt that India needs a material policy.
“We need to identify what are our material requirements for the next 100 years and then plan accordingly. We have to identify all our natural reserves and find out how we can able use them in defence research and also identify and amount reserves that have to be imported from other countries. The U.S. and China have already done it, but we are still lagging behind,” Dr. Sateesh Reddy felt.
The Chairman and Chief Executive, NFC, N Saibaba, said the complex has seen a record production of nuclear fuel. “Thanks to our innovation, we have managed to produce 1,252 metric tonnes of nuclear fuel, which is the largest in the world. We only had the capacity to produce just 850 metric tonnes. We are prepared to meet any kind of demands in the near future in the defence sector,” Dr. Saibaba said.
esearch institutions in India need to learn to supply their indigenously-developed materials and products abroad
– G. Sateesh Reddy
Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister
