Achieving self-reliance in strategic materials along with their manufacturing capabilities is vital to secure the goal of Atmanirbharta in defence production, G. Satheesh Reddy, former Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, said here on Friday.
Dr. Reddy, also the president of Aeronautical Society of India, was speaking at the inauguration of the industry connect meet on Strategic Materials and Manufacturing Technologies organised by CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST) on its campus at Pappanamcode here.
“The important aspect is to develop and produce strategic materials, which are part of our critical equipment systems, within the country. Availability of natural resources is the key factor but the nation has to find alternatives in the event of their shortage,” said Dr. Reddy. According to him, linkage of research and development laboratories and industry is very important and laboratories should know how to manufacture industrially and commercially viable products.
Dr Reddy, who is the former chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said it is also important to ensure quality of products and the technology used for production.
“In the last 15 years, the country has worked a lot on many of the required materials in various laboratories. Studies have been conducted on availability of minerals including in the west coast but still we are dependent on many things from outside,” he said.
Calling for a focused approach on smart materials, Dr. Reddy said unlike other technologies that are getting updated every day, generally, the material development cycle is about 15-20 years and we should look at how these cycles can be improved.
Commenting on around 1,14,260 start-ups in the country, he said the mindset of youngsters was globally competitive and students needed to be encouraged.
The occasion saw the exchange of documents to formalise a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between CSIR-NIIST and Saarloha Advanced Materials Pvt Ltd. for the development of advanced ceramics and materials, carbon dioxide-capturing materials, extraction of synthetic rutile from Ilmenite, recovering critical metals from industrial waste and E-waste and rare earth metal extraction.
In his presidential address, C. Anandharamakrishnan, director, CSIR-NIIST, said India was now making efforts to manufacture materials for defence systems to shake off the dependence on imported materials. “This was possible due to the skilled manpower we generated in the country and the advances in research in the defence sector, he said.
Dr. Anandharamakrishnan added that NIIST was keen to support the defence sector in whichever manner it needed and was looking for more collaboration with DRDO.
R. Balamuralikrishnan, director, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, DRDO, Hyderabad; Antony Joseph, MD, BrahMos Aerospace, Thiruvananthapuram; V.N. Anil Kumar, GM, HAL (Foundry & Forge Division), Bengaluru; and George Ninan, MD, Travancore Titanium Products Ltd., Thiruvananthapuram, were among those present. Panel discussions on strategic materials and advanced manufacturing technologies were also held as part of the event.
