BrahMos chief A Sivathanu Pillai to be conferred Padma Bhushan tomorrow

NEW DELHI: BrahMos Aerospace chief A Sivathanu Pillai will be conferred the Padma Bhushan award by President Pranab Mukherjee here tomorrow for his contribution to the country's cruise missile programme.

The announcement of the third highest civilian honour was made on the eve of the 64th Republic day celebrations in January this year.

Pillai has been associated with the Indo-Russian joint venture for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles ever since it was set up and has worked towards its induction into all the three defence services.

Prior to taking over the BrahMos JV, the distinguished scientist was associated with the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He was the Programme Director of the ballistic missiles--Agni, Prithvi, Nag and Akash.

He has also worked under eminent scientists such as Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan in ISRO and was associated with the evolution of the PSLV programme.

Pillai is a recipient of various awards including the Padma Shri in 2002 for his contribution to aerospace and missile technologies.