The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is a premier government institution and the Research and Development (R&D) wing of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It was established on January 1, 1958, by merging three existing entities: the Technical Development Establishment (TDEs) of the Indian Army, the Directorate of Technical Development & Production (DTDP), and the Defence Science Organisation (DSO). The core problem it was created to solve was India's heavy dependence on foreign military technology and to achieve self-reliance in critical defence technologies.
The DRDO operates through a network of over 50 laboratories across the country, which are organized into seven technology clusters. Its mechanism involves designing, developing, and leading to production state-of-the-art weapon systems, platforms, and allied equipment for the Indian Armed Forces. A key historical program connected to the DRDO is the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), which was approved on July 26, 1983, and led to the development of missile systems like Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Trishul, and Nag. The organization's motto is “Balasya Mulam Vigyanam” (Strength's Origin is in Science).
The DRDO is currently undergoing significant restructuring, with the government working to implement reforms recommended by the Prof. K. VijayRaghavan committee. These changes, which aim to make the DRDO more agile, include a plan to merge the existing 41 laboratories into 10 national laboratories and potentially separate the post of Secretary (R&D) from the DRDO Chairman. The organization has recently demonstrated its focus on next-generation warfare by successfully conducting a long-duration test of an actively cooled full-scale scramjet combustor for its hypersonic cruise missile program in May 2026. Furthermore, in May 2026, DRDO successfully flight-tested TARA (Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation), India's first indigenous glide weapon system, which converts unguided warheads into precision-guided weapons.