Soon, we'll be global player in missiles

Express News Service (September 01, 2009)                                                                           Print This News

TIRUCHI: The day is not far off when technological advancements in aero space would make space tourism a feasible project and inter-planetary travel no longer unthinkable, observed Dr A Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller, R&D, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, BRAHMOS Aero-Space Ltd, New Delhi. The scientist was delivering a lecture on Innovations in science and technology at the Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Tiruchi, on Monday.

Tracing the progress of science and technology, he pointed out that Indians should be proud of men of eminence like Aryabhatta, Bhaskara II, Acharya Kanad, Acharya Bharadwaj and Sushrut who were the pioneers in distinguished branches like mathematics, gravity atomic energy, aviation and plastic surgery. The foreign invasions led to the downfall of the country but the post independence had put the country on the path of progress through the five year Plans aided by science and technology.

We are now working towards Vision 2020 by which time we hoped to generate 40,000 mw of power as against the 4,000 mw at present. Missiles were known to us long back and it was Tippu Sultan who sent a rocket against the British which is still to be seen in a museum in Britain, he said.

Our research in space was remarkable and the Edusat was a great boon and so also telemedicine, e-banking, e-governance and e-marketing. On the defence side, missiles Prithvi, Agni, Nag, Akash and Trishul were great forces to reckon with, capable of targeting land to land, land to sea and in space.

Under the Indo-Russian pact, the BRAHMOS was undertaking supersonic missiles. BRAHMOS is a big revolution and it is a role model in Indo-Russian ties. Soon we will be the global players in this regard, DRDO Chairman said.

Pillai also referred to the bio-nano revolution and said that by 2029 we could expect replacement of the brain by our expertise. Likewise, drug delivery robots will also be introduced. There will be nothing like non-curable, he said. Humans ought to live as humans and that was the aim of nanotechnology, Sivathanupillai stated.

Talking to media on the sidelines, Pillai informed that hypersonic missiles, a second project of BRAHMOS will be launched under BRAHMOS Aero Space which will also have the three versions of land, air and naval.

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