Four DRDO labs taken off US blacklist on technology transfer

The US has taken off four Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories, including its armament lab, from its Entity List, revoking the ban on technology transfer to them following President Barack Obama's promise during his visit to the country last month.

The DRDO labs, including the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), were blacklisted by the US in the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear tests by India.

"Yes, the sanctions have been lifted. The four DRDO labs have been taken off one of the categories under which technology transfer was banned," DRDO chief controller for research and development (armament and combat engineering) S Sundaresh told reporters in New Delhi today.

"The four labs are now placed in another section on par with some European nations to whom latest, critical technologies can be transferred. We will now get more, latest technology," he added.

Before this, the entity list had DRDO labs ARDE in Pune, the Defense Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in Hyderabad, the Missile Research and Development Complex (MRDC) in Hyderabad and the Solid State Physics Laboratory in New Delhi.

Obama had said that the US would remove these DRDO labs, along with four ISRO establishments, and the missile producer Bharat Dynamic Limited from the entity list.