G. Satheesh Reddy (born 1 July 1963) is an Indian aerospace scientist who served as the thirteenth chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from 2018 to 2022. He served as the chairman of the Governing Body of the Aeronautical Development Agency, and is Scientific Adviser to

Raksha Mantri The Minister of Defence (ISO: ''Rakṣā Maṁtrī'') is the head of the Ministry of Defence and a high ranking minister of the Government of India. The Defence minister is one of the most senior offices in the Union Council of Ministers as we ...

(the Minister of Defence, India).

Early life and education

Reddy was born in Mahimaluru, Atmakur, Nellore district,

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. He graduated in Electronics and Communication Engineering from

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Anantapur Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Anantapur (JNTU Anantapur) is a state university in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Founded in 1946, it has since 1973 been a constituent college of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, as s ...

and received his M.S & PhD from

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU Hyderabad) is a public university, located in Hyderabad, Telangana. Founded in 1965 as the Nagarjuna Sagar Engineering College, it was established as a university in 1972 by ''The Jawah ...

Career

Reddy joined

Defence Research and Development Laboratory Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) is an Indian missile development laboratory, part of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Their charter is centered on the design, development, and flight evaluation of va ...

(DRDL), Hyderabad in 1986, subsequently joining

Research Centre Imarat Research Centre Imarat (RCI) is a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory located in Hyderabad, Telangana. The lab is responsible for research and development of missile systems, Precision-guided munition, guided weapons ...

(RCI) after its formation. As Director at RCI, he led the development of IR seekers, integrated avionics modules, and other innovative systems. First working as a navigation scientist and system manager, he eventually was elevated as a Distinguished Scientist in September 2014 and was appointed as a Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister in May 2015. He was also appointed as the Secretary of the Department of Defence R&D and Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India (DRDO) in August 2018. As Director General of Missiles and Strategic Systems, he oversaw the development of missile systems like

Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect India from ballistic missile attacks. It was launched in 1999 after the Kargil War by the Atal B ...

, Nag,

QRSAM Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) is a missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Bharat Electronics and Bharat Dynamics Limited for the Indian Army, meant for protecting moving armoured colum ...

Rudram ''Shri Rudram'' ( ), is a Vedic mantra or chant in homage to Rudra (an epithet of Shiva) taken from the ''Krishna Yajurveda's'' ''Taittiriya Samhita'' (TS 4.5, 4.7). In Shukla Yajurveda, it is found in Chapters 16 and 18. It is composed of t ...

, Long Range Guided Bomb etc. He also oversaw India's first successful test of Prithvi Defence Vehicle Mark 2 Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile (

Mission Shakti On 27 March 2019, India tested an anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) during an operation code named Mission Shakti (IAST: Śakti; lit. ''"Power"''). The target of the test was a satellite present in a low Earth orbit, which was hit with a kinetic kil ...

). He was involved in the development of the world's longest-range gun ATAGS, anti-radiation missiles, smart air field weapons, smart bombs, and missile assisted torpedo release systems.

Awards and recognition

Reddy has been induced as a fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...

, London. He has also received other awards including American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Missile Systems Award, the Aeronautical Prize, National Systems Gold Medal, National Design Award, IEI-IEEE (USA) Award for Engineering Excellence and the Homi J Bhabha Gold Medal. In 2017, Reddy became a laureate of the

Asian Scientist 100 The Asian Scientist 100 is an annually published list of 100 prize-winning Asian researchers, academicians, innovators and business leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region and a range of scientific disciplines. Recipients "must have received ...

by the ''

Asian Scientist ''Asian Scientist'' is an English language science and technology magazine published in Singapore. History and profile ''Asian Scientist'' was launched as a blog in March 2011 by Juliana Chan. The blog's popularity eventually led to a partnersh ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, G. Satheesh Living people Engineers from Andhra Pradesh 1963 births People from Nellore Indian military engineers 20th-century Indian engineers