Hyderabad, June 30: Dr Jagannath Nayak, Distinguished Scientist and Director of the Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS), has been appointed as Director General (Missiles and Strategic Systems) at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with effect from July 1, 2026.
He succeeds U. Raja Babu, who retired from the post upon attaining superannuation.Dr Nayak has more than 35 years of experience in defence research and development. He has been associated with the indigenous design and development of avionics and defence technologies for aerospace applications.
As Director of CHESS, he led the development, field testing and transfer of technology of India’s first Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) system. He also played a key role in the development of Fibre Optic Gyro (FOG) guidance systems for Akash missiles and anti-drone systems based on directed energy technology.
Earlier, as Project Director at Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, Dr Nayak led the indigenous development of Fibre Optic Gyroscopes, a technology now used in missiles, aircraft and battle tanks.
Dr Nayak completed his MS and PhD in Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He has also served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at IISc Bengaluru and IIT Madras between 2009 and 2014.
He has published more than 125 research papers in national and international journals and conference proceedings and has authored several books. His areas of expertise include Directed Energy Weapons, inertial navigation systems, lasers and fibre optics. He has supervised more than ten doctoral scholars.
Dr Nayak was the founding Chairperson of the IEEE Photonics Society, Hyderabad Chapter. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Optical Society of India and Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers. He also serves as Vice President of the Optical Society of India and the Sensor Research Society of India, and Secretary of the INAE Hyderabad Chapter.
He has received several honours, including the Aryabhata Award of the Astronautical Society of India, the National Aeronautical Prize of the Aeronautical Society of India, the DRDO Agni Award for Excellence in Self-Reliance, the Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award and the Aeronautical Society of India Swarna Jayanti Award.