DRDO Appoints Dr Jagannath Nayak as Director General of Missiles & Strategic Systems
Hyderabad, June 30 (TNT): The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has appointed Dr Jagannath Nayak, Distinguished Scientist and Director of Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS), as the new Director General, Missiles & Strategic Systems (DGMSS), with effect from July 1, 2026.
Dr Nayak succeeds U Raja Babu, who is retiring on superannuation.
With more than 35 years of experience in defence research and development, Dr Nayak is recognised for his contributions to indigenous avionics, inertial navigation systems, fibre optic technologies and directed energy weapons for defence and aerospace applications.
As Director of CHESS, he led the development, field testing and transfer of technology of India’s first Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) system, marking a significant milestone in the country’s futuristic defence capabilities.
Dr Nayak completed his M.S. and earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Communication Engineering from Indian Institute of Science.
He is regarded as the chief architect of Fibre Optic Gyro (FOG)-based guidance technology for the Akash missile and DEW-based anti-drone systems.
Earlier, as Project Director at Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad, he spearheaded the indigenous development of Fibre Optic Gyroscopes, enabling India’s self-reliance in the critical technology, which is now deployed in missiles, aircraft and main battle tanks.
Apart from his contributions to defence technologies, Dr Nayak founded the IEEE Photonics Society’s Hyderabad Chapter and served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institute of Technology Madras between 2009 and 2014.
He has authored more than 125 research papers, written several books, and supervised over 10 Ph.D. scholars. His areas of expertise include directed energy weapons, inertial navigation systems, lasers and fibre optics.
Dr Nayak has received several prestigious honours, including the Aryabhata Award from the Astronautical Society of India, the National Aeronautical Prize from the Aeronautical Society of India, the DRDO Agni Award for Excellence in Self-Reliance, the Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award and the Aeronautical Society of India Swarna Jayanti Award.
He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Optical Society of India and the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, besides serving as Vice President of the Optical Society of India and the Sensor Research Society of India, and Secretary of the INAE Hyderabad Chapter.
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