Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai, Ph. D, D.Sc
(Padma Bhushan Awardee)
President and Chairman, Managing Committee
IPMA Level A (Certified Projects Director)
Founder BrahMos Aerospace, Former Chief Controller R&D, DRDO
Hon’ Professor IIT(Delhi)
Visiting Professor IISc, Bangalore
Hon’ Distinguished Professor ISRO, Bangalore
DRDO, Dr. DS Kothari Chair (Research and Innovation), IIT Madras
Dr. Pillai has worked in ISRO and DRDO for the last 40 years under the great visionary leaders Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Prof. Satish Dhawan and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He is a technology leader in the field of launch vehicles and guided missiles. His contributions to the successful development of SLV-3 as a core team member and evolution of PSLV configuration for ISRO have been remarkable. In DRDO Dr. Pillai networked multiple institutions for the development of critical missile technologies overcoming denial regimes enabled realization of Agni, Prithvi, Nag and Akash missiles under the IGMDP as its Programme Director.
BrahMos Aerospace is a unique Joint Venture, first of its kind between India and Russia to design, develop, produce and market the most advanced supersonic cruise missile. His outstanding leadership qualities made India proud to possess the fastest, highly precise and the most potent missile BrahMos which is now inducted in the Indian Armed Forces. BrahMos is a world leader in the family of Cruise Missiles surpassing those in the developed countries. As the founder CEO & MD of the Joint Venture, Dr. Pillai is regarded as the “Father of BrahMos” which has become a role model for establishing joint ventures between the countries.
Well-known as a defence technologist in the world, Dr. Pillai has been recognized by many prestigious engineering and management institutions with Fellowships. He has received many Honorary Doctorates from Twelve reputed Universities of India and Russia. The Moscow University of “Security, Defence and Law Enforcement” honoured Dr. Pillai with the Order of Peter the Great and the Academician of the University. Dr. Pillai has published many papers in the international and national journals and conferences. Dr. Pillai has written many books including The Success Mantras of BrahMos (The Path Unexplored), Revolution in Leadership, Nano Science and Nano Technology for Engineering. He is the co-author with Dr. Kalam for the books (a) Envisioning an Empowered Nationand (b)’ Thoughts for Change – we can do it’. Dr. Pillai is a recipient of various prestigious awards including Technology Leadership Award, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Research Award, Organization for Industrial, Spiritual & Cultural Advancement International Award from Japan, Raja Rammohan Puraskar, Lokamanya Tilak Award, Performance Excellence Award from Institution of Industrial Engineering, and the most importantly Padma Shri (2002) & Padma Bhushan (2013) by the Govt. of India for his contribution to Aerospace and Missile Technologies and “ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP” by the Govt. of Russian Federation, the highest Russian Award for the foreign citizens
