Bhubaneswar/Hyderabad, June 30: Distinguished Scientist Dr. Jagannath Nayak has been appointed as the Director General (Missiles & Strategic Systems) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), effective July 1, 2026. He succeeds Distinguished Scientist U. Raja Babu, who retired on attaining superannuation.
Prior to his new appointment, Dr. Nayak served as Director of the Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS), DRDO. With more than 35 years of experience in defence research and development, he has played a pivotal role in advancing indigenous technologies for India's defence and aerospace sectors.
A renowned expert in advanced avionics, directed energy systems, inertial navigation, lasers, and fibre optics, Dr. Nayak has led several landmark programmes during his distinguished career. As Director of CHESS, he spearheaded the development, field testing, and successful Transfer of Technology (ToT) of India's first Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) system, marking a significant milestone in the country's futuristic defence capabilities.
Dr. Nayak earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. He is widely recognised as the chief architect behind the Fibre Optic Gyro (FOG)-based guidance system for the Akash missile and the development of DEW-based anti-drone systems.
Earlier, as Project Director at DRDO's Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, he led the indigenous development of Fibre Optic Gyroscopes, enabling India to achieve self-reliance in this critical technology. The FOG systems developed under his leadership are now deployed across missile platforms, military aircraft, and main battle tanks.
Dr. Nayak's career has been marked by scientific excellence, visionary leadership, and transformative contributions to India's defence R&D ecosystem. He founded the IEEE Photonics Society's Hyderabad Chapter and served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at IISc Bengaluru and IIT Madras between 2009 and 2014.
An accomplished academic, he has published more than 125 research papers in leading national and international journals and conference proceedings, authored several books, and supervised over ten doctoral scholars.
His outstanding contributions have earned him numerous prestigious honours, including the Aryabhata Award of the Astronautical Society of India, the National Aeronautical Prize of 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.
Dr. Nayak is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), the Optical Society of India (OSI), and the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE). He is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Astronautical Society of India, an Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation (UK), Vice President of both the Optical Society of India and the Sensor Research Society of India, and Secretary of the INAE Hyderabad Chapter.
