The science of war

Hyderabad: When you’ve personally overseen and contributed to the transformation of India’s defence capabilities, you know you’ve made a difference to the country. Dr Avinash Chander, former chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, who recently rece-ived the Aryabhata Award from the Astronautical Society of India, is one such person. His work over the past four decades at DRDO has led to the country rubbing shoulders with world’s leaders.

Dr Avinash moved to Hyderabad from Delhi to work at the DRDO facility here in 1975. “Then, India was just starting to think about developing long range missiles,” he says adding, “We first got around to developing the navigational systems. From there to the guidance, designing the simulation, missiles, electronic packages...and then it all changed.”

Though his family grew up in hard times after they were forced to flee PoK, his father always wanted Avinash and his five siblings to receive a higher education. From beginning his schooling under tents at government schools, Avinash went on to graduate from IIT Delhi, studying Electrical Engineering.

Since he wanted a career in research, he turned down offers from the private industry to work with the DRDO, saying, “I was keen on taking up challenges to go where we had never been. DRDO gave that opportunity. The biggest challenge in defence research is that it can never be static.”

Talking about his projects at the DRDO, Avinash says that his first — to build a navigational system for missiles — was the hardest. “Those were the days when money was tight, particularly with the foreign exchange just after the ’71 war,” he says.

While the DRDO has always championed indigenous research and development, Avinash says that there needs to be a greater shift towards focusing on developing an environment in India for local talent to succeed.

“Nobody gives you the latest. Nobody gives you technology for this class of systems. And nobody gives you the complete technology,” Avinash says, adding, “They will always want you to depend on them. That’s the strength of Indian technology — it gives you the confidence to make your own systems. I think it’s imperative that India, with its size and requirements, develops an Indian tech base. We must use imported technology as an input to go faster, not to totally depend on it.”

He adds, “I’m worried that this 30 per cent Indian, 70 per cent Foreign concept of Make In India is only going to be about importing.”

Receiving the award has made Avinash affirm his faith that India’s missile capabilities are now one of the best in the world. “It’s an acknowledgement of our missile capability having matured to international standards.” With a supportive family by his side, he says his only regret is not spending time with them much as much as he would have liked to.