Contribution of a person to ISRO/DRDO should not be counted on the basis of the patents. More than that you need very good leadership skills to motivate people and guide the workforce in the right direction. Above all you should know technical knowledge to guide others in areas like launch vehicle design and its implementation. Somebody may be extremenly talented than kalam, but may not be focussed and dedicated. Kalam has led a team in ISRO for its successful launch of SLV. Most of the youngsters who work in software industry things it is not as complicated as their s/w systems. The point to be noted is in missile/launch vehicle systems you cannot restart your computer as and when you wanted and systems has to operate at higher temparature without fail. The algorithms used may not be complex as in other areas, but the systems and the process to be followed to achieve the quality to be used in defence/space is very high. And remember the material science behind the rocket, the aerodynamics, the chemical science, and above all mechanical parts, engines all need to work together and you cannot expect one person to be good in all. And decades back india does not have computer s/w, systems to run the simulations and test the air-worthiness of rocket/slv. You have to go back to the olden days work environment and see their achievements. Now a days in a software company people start cribbing for each and every thing ?. But in a govt agencies with limited facility motivating people to work for a mission is a huge task. Kalam was the brain behind the formation of a number of DRDO organizations. But i agree in some aspects that DRDO as of now is not having any quality leaders. Most of them are greedy and selfish people. And politics is the evident every where. I left DRDO because of these reasons. I worked for LRDE and it is one of the best lab under DRDO, but lots of internal politics destroyed it. The directors also play politics then how can you expect it to grow.
