There has been a long-standing push to conduct research and development in defence technologies in India to offset the country’s dependence on imported arms and equipment

NEW DELHI: In a bid to boost research and development in the field of defence technology, a Memorandum of Understanding for technical collaboration and joint research was signed between the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) headquarters and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Thursday.

“The agreement between the IDS headquarters and CSIR aims to provide an umbrella framework to initiate collaborative interaction between CSIR Labs, IDS headquarters and Armed Forces — namely Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force — to enhance scientific understanding of technologies related to defence and undertake joint research and development in dual-use technologies,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

There has been a long-standing push to conduct research and development in defence technologies in India to offset the country’s dependence on imported arms and equipment. The Integrated Defence Staff is the single-point organisation for collaboration in the Ministry of Defence, which integrates policy, doctrine, war-fighting and procurement.

The CSIR does Research & Development (R&D) in diverse areas involving science and technology. The organisation has a dynamic network of 37 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, one innovation complex and three units, with a pan-India presence. The CSIR’s R&D wing comprises about 3,521 scientists, supported by about 4,162 technical and support personnel as of March 31, 2022.

Its wide spectrum of expertise in science and technology ranges from oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology. It provides significant technological intervention in many areas concerning societal efforts, which include environment, health, drinking water, food, housing, energy, farm and non-farm sectors.