An expert committee has recommended that an apex body chaired by the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister and the National Security Advisor as its Vice Presidents should decide on the country’s defence technology roadmap.

The expert panel led by the former principal scientific advisor Professor K Vijay Raghavan also reportedly suggested that this body, which will be known as  Defence Technology Council (DTC), should take a call on major projects and monitor their execution.

DTC is proposed to have an executive committee under the chairmanship of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) with the Principal Scientific Advisor, chiefs and vice chiefs of the three services as its members.

For the representation of other stakeholders, the DTC will have two members each from academia and industry, as the committee report submitted this month recommended.

The expert committee was formed last year with nine members to review the functioning of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the wake of delay in defence projects.

For DRDO, the committee suggested to keep the focus on its original goal of research and development for defence, rather than involving in productisation, production cycles and product management.

It also recommended identifying different players for different technological needs rather than making DRDO a one-stop solution for all defence needs.

The committee also suggested the formation of the Department of Defence Science, Technology, and Innovation, a separate department under the Defence Ministry, with a technocrat as its head.