India stands at a defining moment in its technological and strategic journey. The ongoing reforms within the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are not merely another bureaucratic restructuring. They represent perhaps the most consequential institutional reform in India’s defence innovation ecosystem – R&D.
The objective is ambitious: transform DRDO into a leaner, more efficient, and globally competitive research organisation, capable of delivering next-generation military technologies. These successes demonstrate that India can build world-class defence technologies when policy, scientific leadership, and political commitment converge. The Kaveri jet engine programme remains unfinished after decades. Indigenous propulsion technologies still trail global leaders. Autonomous and unmanned systems require much deeper investments than India currently makes. The country also lacks commercial-scale semiconductor fabrication facilities, forcing dependence on imported chips that power radars, avionics, communication systems, and electronic warfare equipment. These technological vulnerabilities cannot simply be addressed by reorganising laboratories. Recognising these limitations, the government has wisely opened nearly one-fourth of the defence R&D budget to private industry, startups, and academia. This is an important beginning. The objective should not merely be to reform DRDO but to transform it into India’s equivalent of a strategic innovation ecosystem – combining the agility of DARPA, the scientific excellence of leading research universities, and the industrial depth of advanced defence economies. Defence innovation must go beyond government laboratories. Sadly, universities have failed in applied research. Unfortunately, barring a handful of institutions, much of Indian higher education remains disconnected from frontier technological development.
The Prime Minister’s Office has directed that the restructuring of DRDO be completed by 2026, according to government sources.
However, genuine innovation ecosystems cannot be built through outsourcing alone. They require seamless integration between government laboratories, universities, industry, and venture capital – something that countries like the United States and Israel have perfected over decades. For example, more than 430 multinational R&D centres operate in Israel, and we all buy their technologies.
