— Photo: Special Arrangement

SPECIAL OCCASION: A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO of BrahMos Aerospace, receiving an honorary doctorate from St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University (SMTU) in the Russian Federation on Wednesday awarded an honorary doctorate (honoris causa) to A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller, Research and Development (Naval Systems), Defence Research and Development Organisation.

Rector of the SMTU Konstantine Borisenko awarded the honoris causa and presented Dr. Pillai with a citation at a convocation attended by members of the academic council of the university, its directors, and Director-Generals and Designers-General of major Russian institutes. Dr. Pillai was made a lifetime honorary professor of the university.

The SMTU is the only university in the world dedicated to naval technology. It focuses on ship designs and research, and has produced the world's best naval architects and marine engineers. Many of them are holding key positions in leading ship-building industries in the world. Underwater sensors and weapons developed by the naval laboratories of the DRDO were fitted into ships and submarines built for India at the St. Petersburg Naval Dockyard.

Dr. Pillai said from St. Petersburg he was given the honorary doctorate for initiating several research projects in marine technology between India and Russia. He had played an important role in the development and induction of indigenous underwater sensors and weapons in the Navy. He had contributed to the development of critical technologies for building state-of-the-art combat ships and missile systems in cooperation with Russian scientific research institutes. He is the chairman of the Indian side of the inter-governmental working group between India and Russia in R&D in defence.

He is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture responsible for designing, developing, producing and marketing BrahMos, a supersonic cruise missile.

"All these factors counted in my getting this recognition" from the SMTU, he said.

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