MPC for MILAN exercise was concluded in Visakhapatnam:

The Mid Planning Conference (MPC) for MILAN exercise was held at Headquarters Eastern Naval Command (HQENC) Visakhapatnam from 8-10 November 2019. The harbour and the sea phase of the exercise MILAN 2020 was discussed in detail with the delegates of the participating countries during the conference.

Participants:

Over 29 delegates from 17 friendly Foreign Navies participated in the three-day conference. 

MILAN:

MILAN is a series of biennial a multilateral naval exercise. It was established in 1995. It was conducted at Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) until 2018. For the first time, it has been planned to be conducted on the mainland at ENC.

MILAN 2020: MILAN 2020 will enhance the professional interaction between friendly foreign navies. The programme of MILAN 2020 has been scheduled to be conducted at Visakhapatnam in March 2020. It aims to strengthen and learn from each other`s ideas and best practices in the maritime domain. The exercise will also provide an excellent opportunity for Operational Commanders of friendly foreign navies to interact with each other in areas of mutual interest.

DRDO to grant the Indian industry free access to patents:

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is to grant the Indian industry free access to patents held for technologies developed by it. 

Aim:

The aim of DRDO`s move is to boost indigenous production and encourage Make in India policy. 

DRDO`s new policy:

♦ The new policy formulated by the DRDO said no licence fee or royalty would be applicable to the use of Indian patents held by DRDO. There are hundreds of such patents covering aeronautics, naval systems, missile technology, combat engineering, life sciences, armaments, electronics, and communication material. Earlier, the licence fee for patents and royalty ranged between several lakh rupees to crore depending upon the type of technology involved.

♦ As per the new policy, the Indian startups, public and private entities will be granted a free licence to DRDO patents

♦ The firms must have the capacity to absorb technology, production capability, quality control mechanisms

♦ The firms should submit annual commercial reports to DRDO