🚨 PMO Draws a Deadline for DRDO: India Finally Moves to Break the Bureaucratic Shackles Holding Back Its Defence R&D The government has set a firm deadline to complete the restructuring of DRDO by December 31, 2026, signalling that India's long-pending defence R&D reforms are finally moving from recommendations to implementation. The need for reform is clear. Parliamentary and CAG reviews have repeatedly highlighted project delays, with a significant number of DRDO programmes exceeding their original timelines. Earlier reform committees, including those led by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, P. Rama Rao and others, had already identified structural problems, but implementation remained limited. The latest major push came from the K. VijayRaghavan-led high-level committee, which recommended fundamentally redefining DRDO's role. Its core recommendation is that DRDO should concentrate primarily on advanced research and development, rather than simultaneously handling research, production and excessive administrative responsibilities. The proposed restructuring includes consolidating DRDO's numerous laboratories into a smaller number of specialised national laboratories, separating scientific and bureaucratic responsibilities, opening national testing facilities to private industry, and bringing stronger participation from academia and the private sector. A broader Defence Technology Council involving political leadership, the armed forces, scientists, academia and industry has also been proposed to create a more integrated defence-technology ecosystem. The government has already begun implementing elements of this restructuring, including greater delegation of financial powers to accelerate R&D projects and organisational realignment. DRDO's budget has also increased, although India's defence R&D spending remains significantly below the levels of major military powers. The objective is simple but strategically critical: reduce the distance between scientific innovation and battlefield capability. India cannot afford defence programmes that take decades to mature while warfare rapidly evolves through AI, autonomous systems, hypersonics, electronic warfare, advanced propulsion and directed-energy technologies. DRDO has the scientific talent and technological base. What it needs is a leaner structure, greater autonomy, stronger industry integration and much faster execution. The December 2026 deadline therefore represents more than an administrative target. It is a test of whether India can finally transform DRDO from a sprawling, bureaucratically constrained organisation into a focused, agile and globally competitive defence technology engine.