Distinguished scientist Samir V Kamat appointed DRDO Chairman: Ministry

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Kamat's appointment from the date of his assumption of charge till he attains the age of 60 years

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Thursday appointed distinguished scientist, Dr Samir V Kamat, as chairman.

Kamat, who is Director General, Naval Systems & Materials (NS&M), will succeed G Satheesh Reddy, who has been named as scientific adviser to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to a Personnel Ministry order. Reddy was appointed as DRDO chief in August 2018 for two years. He was given two years' extension in the post in August 2020.

The defence organisation is the research and development wing of the Ministry of Defence.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved Kamat's appointment from the date of his assumption of charge till he attains the age of 60 years.

He obtained B Tech. (Hons) in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT-Kharagpur in 1985 and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Ohio State University in 1988.

He joined DRDO at DMRL, Hyderabad, in 1989. He took over as the director of the lab in 2015. Kamat assumed charge as NS&M Director in 2017.

Over the last 25 years, Kamat has made significant contributions in the area of microstructure-mechanical property correlations in advanced materials such as particulate reinforced metal matrix composites, ceramic matrix composites, aluminium-lithium alloys, high strength aluminium alloys and titanium alloys which led to their development for various defence applications. 

He has also been instrumental in setting up state-of-the-art experimental facilities and expertise for characterisation of mechanical behaviour of materials in small volumes, especially for materials used in MEMS.