When you invest in defence technologies, do not expect a return in 2-3 years: Former DRDO Chief

Veteran DRDO scientist Sudhir Kumar Mishra, on Friday, said that you shouldn't expect a return in 2-3 years when you invest in defence technologies and you need to work on R&D for a decade at least. Sudhir Kumar Mishra is a former DRDO DG and former MD & CEO of BrahMos Aerospace. He currently holds the DRDO chair (Prof. S Bhagavantham)

"In every vertical, if there are 3,000 companies, it becomes tough for the buyer to support. Why don't you group them? Today there are 400 drone companies. I am telling you that not more than 20 will survive!," said Mishra in an interaction with Moneycontrol's Managing Editor Nalin Mehta during Network 18's Powering Bharat Summit.

Mishra also said that all the technologies for BrahMos was developed by DRDO and the main thing was to integrate it with the Sukhoi aircraft.

"We started by 250 million dollars. The company was registered in Delhi. We did the first flight test of Brahmos in 2001. When I joined in 2013, I developed various version -- ship to ship, land-based, air-based. The main thing was to integrate with the Sukhoi aircraft. That took a couple of years and it was critical. We created the world's largest launcher in-house in DRDO," said Mishra in an interaction with Moneycontrol's Managing Editor Dr Nalin Mehta during Network 18's Powering Bharat Summit.