India and UK sign LOA for collabrative defence research

London: India and India and the United Kingdom entered into a letter of arrangement (LoA) on 16th September 2011 to pursue collaborative Defence R&D and facilitate best use of research and technology capabilities through joint programme, including participation of industry and academia.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr W Selvamurthy, Distinguished Scientist and Chief Controller R&D (Life Sciences & International Cooperation), DRDO listed four entities that are required for preparedness to manage chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials (CBRN) disasters, standard operating procedures, guidelines, equipment and systems and trained manpower. He is currently on a visit to UK for Conference on CBRN Disaster Management and Security. The two day conference has been jointly organized by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT), UK Government Home Office.

Dr Selvamurthy expressed confidence that synergy between India and the UK will lead to products that are best in the world. He mentioned that “DRDO has developed more than 60 products and technologies for CBRN, defence and most of them have been productionised by ordnance factories, defence PSUs and private sector industries, and inducted into services”. Dr Selvamurthy has announced that Govt. has approved establishment of a national centre for CBRN Mitigation and Training by DRDO, initially as an arm of Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS). The mandate of this centre would be to provide quality training for Military, Paramilitary, Police and civilian ‘First Responders’ in handling CBRN eventuality as well as to function as a CBRN emergency response centre.

On the occasion, an exhibition of CBRN technologies and products developed by the UK and India which have applications in both civil and military response to CBRN incidents has also been organized. A wide range of products for detection of CBRN threats, as well as those offering individual / collective protection, that have been designed, developed and productionised by DRDO are on display at the exhibition.

Dr RP Tripathy Director INMAS Delhi, Dr AK Saxena Director DMSRDE Kanpur, Dr MP Kaushik Director DRDE Gwalior besides other top DRDO Scientists and a galaxy of scientists from UK were present at the Conference.