About Wheeler Island:
- Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, is an island off the coast of Odisha.
- The island was renamed to honour the late President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and also to encourage the youth to pursue a scientific temperament.
- It is the only place in India that has an integrated test range maintaining a missile testing facility, which is located on this island.
- All indigenous missiles, like Akash missile, Agni missile, Prithvi Missile etc. are tested from here.
- The island is 2 km long, having an area of 390 acres, and is basically a soil formation without rocks in the Bay of Bengal.
Key Facts about Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO):
- It is the R&D wing of the Ministry of Defence, Govt of India, with a vision to empower India with cutting-edge defence technologies and a mission to achieve self-reliance in critical defence technologies and systems.
- It isIndia's largest research organisation.
- Formation: The organisation was formed in 1958 from the amalgamation of the then already functioning Technical Development Establishment (TDEs) of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development & Production (DTDP) with the Defence Science Organisation (DSO).
- Headquarters: New Delhi.
- It has a network of laboratories engaged in developing defence technologies covering various fields, like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, land combat engineering, life sciences, materials, missiles, and naval systems.
