S Christopher is new Director General of DRDO; GS Reddy appointed scientific advisor to Defence Minister

After a gap of several months, DRDO has finally got a new leadership with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar pushing through a new concept to divide the top post into two parts.

The government on Thursday appointed S Christopher who heads the centre for airborne systems as the new Director General of DRDO with the rank of a secretary.

Splitting the top post, the government also appointed the younger GS Reddy - a missile scientist - as the scientific advisor to the defence minister. Reddy will directly report to Parrikar and will be the pointsman for the minister for defence research projects.

Both top officials have got a term for 2 years, though Reddy is expected to continue after that and would be a contender for top job of DG DRDO.
The new appointments come after DRDO chief Avinash Chander was removed from his post in January with Parrikar saying that the government wants to have a new, younger leadership for the organisation.

The splitting of the post ks first among a series of structural changes that are expected at DRDO in coming months.

It is still not clear how the responsibilities will be divided among the two as the ministry has not come out with a detailed notification.

Both officials are expected to be based in Delhi.