Address: Metcalfe House, Delhi 110 054, India

Telephone: Unlisted

Fax: Unlisted

Telex: Unlisted

E-mail: root@drdtrl.drdo.com

Director: Mr. R.C. Chakraborty

Subordinate to: Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO), Ministry of Defense

Primary Function: Development of techniques for terrain evaluation and assessment of mobility potential of inaccessible areas.

Description: The DRDO established a Terrain Evaluation Cell (TEC) in the Ministry of Defense in February 1964. The TEC was tasked with the "development of techniques for terrain evaluation, and assessment of mobility potential of inaccessible areas." In 1981, TEC was formally expanded into a full-fledged laboratory and renamed as the Defense Terrain Research Laboratory (DTRL).

The DTRL assesses "terrain characteristics through modern techniques of terrain evaluation," develops "infrastructure...and instrumentation in the latest techniques of terrain evaluation," and develops "terrain information databases." Other activities of the laboratory include the "preparation of mobility maps," and generation of "land-use maps" for India’s Ministry of Defense and its agencies.

Key Sources:
"Defence Terrain Research Laboratory," Defence Research & Development Laboratory, <http://www.drdo.org/labs/compsci/dtrl/index.shtml>; "Address Book," Defence Research & Development Laboratory, <http://www.drdo.org/add.shtml>.

	Updated July 2003