In what comes as the first move of its kind for the industry in India, the Ministry of Defence has cleared the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) proposal for a transfer of technology that would allow private player, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) to commercially manufacture an aircraft.According to a report in The Indian Express, the aircraft to be produced by L&T is the pilotless target aircraft Lakshya. The report adds that L&T will pay a royalty to the DRDO for every aircraft manufactured by them. Prospective customers for the pilotless plane reportedly include the likes of Israel, Singapore and Malaysia.The aircraft is a reusable subsonic aerial target system which was developed in Bengaluru and was inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2000.The report mentions that the impending association with L&T will be the first of its kind for defence technology, as earlier only PSUs were nominated for production, but with little incentive.Sources in the industry further told the newspaper that L&T would collaborate with DRDO to build a Lakshya 2, which would be an advanced version of the aircraft.“This will allow the industry to do what DRDO currently does what it should not really do, i.e., upgradation of a system. We will do the hand-holding. But a private manufacturer with access to base technology can easily develop a newer version, a Mark II for a platform,” a DRDO official told the newspaper.