Monday, March 27 2006 15:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Assuring full government support for development of bio and nano technologies, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today (Mar 27, 2006) aid the two sectors have vast potential for application in diverse fields, including in Defence.

"For Defence, the implications could be enormous - both in terms of the opportunities it might offer to grow our own military capability and also the new threats it might lead to," Mukherjee said at a conference on Biotechnology and Nanotechnology here.

"The list of possibilities of using nanotechnology in Defence is long which include intelligent and completely autonomus short and long range accurate weapons, improved stealth and means to defeat current stealth techniques, global information networks and local battle field systems, self-repairing military equipment besides others," he said.

Observing that the 21st century belongs to the Life Sciences wherein a number of exciting discoveries and inventions in the field of biotechnology and nanotechnology will 'revolutionise' the quality of life on this planet, Mukherjee said the country should also harness biotechnology and nanotechnology in understanding the insight into life processes and apply that knowledge for development of the nation.

"A strong interface and closer interaction among the research and development laboratories, academia and industries is essential for taking science and technology outcome to the masses in the form of competitive home grown technologies and products which will lead to economic development," he said.