G. Satheesh Reddy

Dr G. Satheesh Reddy is an Indian Aerospace Scientist and the current Chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, Government of India and Director General, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). In June 2015 he was also appointed as a scientific adviser to the defence minister of India. Satheesh presently heads Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex. Satheesh is the Chief Architect of India's Mission Shakti Anti Satellite Missile Test (ASAT) and led the entire launch operations. An acclaimed navigation specialist, Reddy personally led the development of systems that guide a missile, itself travelling at hypersonic velocity, to a satellite 300 km away that is travelling through space at almost 30,000 km per hour and achieved a direct hit with centimeters of accuracy.

Satheesh had served as Director of the Research Centre Imarat a key laboratory of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, Defence Research and Development Organisation and an advanced centre for design, development and delivery of avionics systems for missiles and other applications. Reddy pioneered many technological developments for Indian Missiles and has made significant contributions towards the successful flight testing of the country's first intercontinental ballistic missile, the Agni-V. He has made significant contributions to indigenous design and development of missile technologies and avionics.. He has been the major contributor towards the towards the formulation of many national policies and pivotal in evolving roadmap for self-sufficiency in Missiles. As Director General, Missiles and Strategic Systems (DG, MSS), he has spearheaded Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex Laboratoriesworked for complete self-sufficiency in Missiles and initiated many new projects to equip Armed forces with state-of-the-art weapons and technologies. Reddy is the brain behind the mission critical technologies for Long Range Agni-5 missile.

Satheesh is a fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation in London, the first from India. He is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a foreign member of the Academy of Navigation and Motion Control, Russia, a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and an honorary fellow of th[Computer Society of India]] and Sensors Research Society.

Satheesh received the Homi J. Bhabha Memorial Award of the Indian Science Congress Association for 2013–14. In 2015 he was the first Indian recipient of the Silver Medal of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has also been conferred with the Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Award of the Institution of Engineers (India).

As a navigation expert, Satheesh made significant contributions to Indian Defence programmes and has won the Young Scientist Award, DRDO Scientist of the Year Award and the Agni Award for Excellence in Self-reliance as a team leader for development of ring laser gyro-based inertial navigation system. He is also a recipient of National Aeronautical Prize and National Design Award.

Reddy was chosen for the first Institution of Engineers - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (United States) joint award for engineering excellence. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), one of the world’s largest and reputed aerospace technical societies conferred the prestigious Missile Systems Award for the year 2019 on Satheesh. The award recognizes excellence in developing and implementing missile systems technology and for inspired leadership of missile systems programmes.Sathesh is highly regarded as the Chief Architect of advanced Missile technologies and Smart Guided Weapons in India. The citation read that Satheesh was selected for his over three decades of significant national contributions toward indigenous design, development, and deployment of diversified strategic and tactical missile systems, guided weapons, advanced avionics, and navigation technologies in India. He is the first Indian to be conferred with this Award.