Chandramouli Gaddamanugu

When Chandramouli Gaddamanugu joined India’s Akash missile project in 1983, it had two scientists. He stayed with it for 34 years, through thousands of missiles and its induction into the armed forces. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of science and engineering, from Telangana ^[1].

Training

Chandramouli was born on 5 April 1958 in Madhira, Khammam district ^[2]. He earned a mechanical engineering degree from NIT Warangal in 1981, an MTech from IIT Delhi in 1992, and a PhD from Osmania University in 2021 ^[2].

Building Akash

Akash is a supersonic surface-to-air missile system, developed at DRDO’s Defence Research and Development Laboratory in Hyderabad ^[2]. Chandramouli worked on its design, integration and flight testing ^[2]. As project manager, he led teams from several organisations, finalised the radars, launchers and command centres on five different vehicles, and oversaw more than a hundred test flights ^[2].

As project director, he steered production, testing and delivery for ten years ^[2]. Akash was inducted into the Indian Army and Indian Air Force in 2015 ^[2]. According to the citation, India became the first country to design, produce and deploy a command-guided supersonic surface-to-air system that can engage several targets at once ^[2]. The system was used during Operation Sindoor ^[2].

As programme director he also conceived the Akash 1S, Akash Prime and QRSAM missiles ^[2]. His awards include DRDO’s Agni Award (2004) and Scientist of the Year (2013) ^[2].