The Government of India also appointed Dr S. Christopher, Distinguished Scientist & Programme Director (AEW&C) and Director, Centre for Air-Borne Systems, DRDO as Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Developmentcum-Director General, DRDO for period of two years from the date of taking over charge.

Dr Christopher obtained his BE (Hons) in Electronics & Communication Engineering from University of Madras and M.Tech. in Microwaves and Radar Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur. He joined IIT, Madras, as Project Associate and carried out research in Microwave Antenna Design and Near-field Measurement Techniques. He obtained PhD in Antennae and Measurement Techniques from IIT, Madras.

Dr Christopher worked for the Bharat Electronics, Ghaziabad, as Senior Engineer and later joined LRDE as Scientist-‘D’ and rose to Scientist ‘G’. He led a team to create the automated planar near field measurement facility at LRDE for the first time in the country. He was Project Director for LCA MMR and led the team for designing and developing slotted array technology, which was used for several airborne and missile projects including export to Poland. He was also Project Director for ASP project and also for development of the Maritime Patrol Airborne Radar, Super Vision 2000, for the Indian Navy.

Dr Christopher joined the Centre for Air-Borne Systems (CABS) in 2004 and assumed charge as Programme Director for the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) programme. He was appointed Director, CABS, in addition to his responsibility as Programme Director (AEW&C). He was elevated to the rank of Distinguished Scientist in 2012.

Dr Christopher is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineers (FNAE), Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) and the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers (IETE). He is a member of SEE, IEEE and is a recipient of many awards including Scientist of the Year Award in 1998.