Samir Kamat appointed as new DRDO chief, incumbent Satheesh Reddy becomes Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister

In what is being seen as a signal for the beginning of new fast pace reforms, the Government on Thursday appointed Samir Kamat as the new chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The incumbent G Satheesh Reddy, 59, whose four-year tenure was ending today, has been made the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister. “Appointment of Samir V. Kamat, Distinguished Scientist and Director General, Naval Systems & Materials as Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman, Defence Research Development Organisation from the date of his assumption of charge till he attains the age of 60 years or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” the Appointments Committee of Cabinet said in its order.

The move comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself been reviewing the performance of the organisation.

Government officials said the new appointment will help in the new reforms like making defence research more industry-friendly and helping the smaller and medium industries to grow in manufacturing.

Kamat who was heading the Naval Systems & Materials, Vishakhapatnam will serve till the age of 60.

Kamat is a Distinguished Scientist, an engineering graduate in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1985 and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University, the USA in 1988, specialising in the area of mechanical behaviour of materials.

He had joined DRDO at DMRL, Hyderabad, as Scientist ‘C’ in 1989 and rose to the position of OS/Sc ‘H’ in October 2013.

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