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Ministry of Defence (MoD) is allocating funds towards the R&D for indigenous defence technologies. During the last three years, DRDO was sanctioned projects worth Rs 29,558.66 crore. The yearly break-up of funds is as follows:

Year	No. of projects sanctioned	Cost (Rs. in Cr)
01-Jan-2023 to 31-Dec-2023	40	Rs 3,842.71 Cr
01-Jan-2024 to 31-Dec-2024	43	Rs 22,175.49 Cr
01-Jan-2025 till date	20	Rs 3,540.46 Cr

Kaveri Derivative Engine (KDE), is the power plant for the remotely piloted strike aircraft (IUCAV aircraft). In this regard two projects have been sanctioned namely Flightworthy Kaveri Dry Engine Development with the cost of Rs 472.42 crore and Technology Demonstration of Kaveri Derivative 'Dry' Engine with the cost of Rs 251.17 crore.

Several structural reforms are being undertaken to enhance civil-military partnership in the defence ecosystem. Some of the key reforms are given as under:

·         Development-cum-Production-Partners (DcPP) are identified to ensure faster prototype development and faster transition to production phase, thereby enhancing the defence ecosystem.

·         Industries are included in the loop for faster realisation technologies developed through academic projects, through DRDO Industry Academia-Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE).

·         Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), the certification agency of DRDO, is working closely with its domestic civil counterpart i.e. DGCA for common approach in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) certification. CEMILAC’s MoD approved guiding document certification IMTAR V2.0 has provisioned the adoption of civil drone certification for lower weight UAV thus enabling common certification criteria for both civil military use.

·         CEMILAC is also interacting with certification agencies (EASA & ANAC) and aircraft OEM (Airbus & Embraer) for civil-military derivative aircrafts methodology for certification so that domestic DcPP can obtain certification in India.

·         DRDO has entered into MOUs with defence industrial corridors TIDEL Park Ltd and UPEIDA to collaborate as knowledge partner for sharing of ideas, resources and expertise for development of Defence Industrial Corridors.

·         DRDO has established 15 DRDO Industry Academia Centres of Excellence (DIA-CoE) across the country at IISc Bangalore, various IITs and Central/State Universities to encourage directed research for developing new technologies for defence and security in identified areas.

·         DRDO has evolved a new ToT policy and procedures with zero ToT fee for its industry partners (Development cum Production Partners (DcPP)/ Development Partner (DP)) and zero royalty for supply to Indian Armed Forces and Govt Deptt.

·         Several world class test facilities have now been opened for industries in DRDO labs and necessary SOP has been formulated.

·         DRDO patents are available on DRDO website for use by industries. These patents are available free of cost to industries to enable Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

·         DRDO has launched Technology Development Fund (TDF) which provides financial support to the Indian industries for the design development of innovative defence products.

·         Dare to Dream 4.0 contest as launched during Def Expo with 10 problem statements to encourage innovation through the Indian scientific community. Dare to Dream is a scheme to promote individuals and start-ups for innovations in Defence & Aerospace.

This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Sanjay Seth in a written reply to Shri Tejasvi Surya in the Lok Sabha today.

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VK/Savvy/Nirmit

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