Centre extends tenure of DRDO chief Samir Kamat by year, ‘reforms in mind’

Dr Samir Kamat’s predecessor, Dr Satheesh Reddy, was also given a two-year extension. Dr Kamat will now serve until 31 May, 2025.

Defence Research and Development Organisation Chairman Samir V. Kamat | Photo: ANI

New Delhi: A day after the government announced a one-month extension to Chief of Army Staff Gen Manoj Pande, the Centre has granted a one-year extension to DRDO chief Dr Samir Kamat.

In a statement Monday, the DRDO stated that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which is led by the Prime Minister, has extended Dr Kamat’s tenure. He will now serve until 31 May, 2025.

Dr Kamat’s predecessor, Dr Satheesh Reddy, who took over as DRDO chief in 2018, was also given a two-year extension. While initially he was to retire in August 2020, he held the post till August 2022 and was then appointed the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister.

Kamat currently holds the position of Secretary in the Department of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) and Chairman, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), posts he took over on 26 August, 2022.

Before that, he had worked on several projects, including the development of advanced light-weight torpedo, anti-torpedo decoy systems, autonomous underwater vehicles, advanced hull mounted and towed array sonars for ships and fuel cells-based air independent propulsion systems for submarines.

Defence sources said the extension to Kamat’s tenure is meant to keep the momentum of ongoing reforms at the DRDO.

The reforms are being carried out as part of recommendations of a committee led by former principal scientific advisor to the government K.VijayRaghavan.

He had submitted a report titled ‘Redefining Defence Research and Development’ to defence minister Rajnath Singh in January this year.

The reforms, details of which are yet to be made public, focus on making the DRDO leaner and more oriented towards cutting-edge technology for future warfare and closer coordination with the defence industry.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)