DRDO exhibits India's defence tech prowess ahead of Republic Day; Watch

With 73rd Republic Day around the corner, the festive fervour is in the air and adding to the festivities, India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on Sunday released a video showcasing India's prowess in indigenously developing pre-eminent defence weapons & technologies.

DRDO exhibits India's prowess 

The video released by the DRDO highlights the technologies developed in India for the Indian armed forces. The minute-long video features the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas and Rudram- the anti-radiation missile among others. These are the indigenously developed weapons featured by the Research & Development wing of the Ministry of Defence in the featured video:

1. Tejas Light Combat Aircraft
2. Indigenously developed Advanced Weapons and EW Suite for LCA Tejas
3. AESA Radar-Uttam
4. ASTRA- All-weather beyond visual Range Active Radar Homing Air to Air Missile
5. TARA- Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation
6. Rudram-1- New Generation Anti Radiation Missile
7. SAAW- Smart Anti Airfield Weapon
8. ASPJ-Advanced Self Protection Jammer
9. Gaurav- Long Range Glide Bomb

Beginning this year, the week-long Republic Day celebrations commenced on January 23 marking the 125th birth anniversary of the staunch freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Paying rich tributes to the stalwart national leader, PM Modi will be inaugurating the 3D hologram statue of Netaji at India Gate today. He had announced the development of a tall granite statue, of the leader and until its completion, the hologram statue will hold the place in the interim.

Notably, this year's Republic Day celebrations have been planned by the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education. Considering the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Defence Ministry has taken the initiative to invite citizens for watching the live streaming of Republic Day celebrations and Beating Retreat ceremony, as well as to show their solidarity to the Republic of India. 

Several new elements have been added to the parade this year, including the laser projection on the South and North block walls, which will be followed by a drone show. "A minimum of 1000 drones will participate in the show," Major General Alok Kakkar informed. 

Besides, ahead of the band performances on Republic Day, the Indian Naval contingent was seen rehearsing for the special day. The band was seen playing the iconic Bollywood song 'Monica oh my Darling', a video of the same was released by the Union government's Twitter handle and the rendition gave goosebumps to netizens.