The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a special bio-suit for personnel who are combating COVID-19.Using nanotechnology, scientists at various DRDO laboratories have made the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) with a specific type of fabric. DRDO is planning to produce 15,000 of these suits per day.A DRDO release said the suit, prepared with the help of the industry, has been subjected to rigorous testing on textile parameters as well as protection against synthetic blood.

The protection against synthetic blood exceeds the criteria defined for body suits by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

M/s Kusumgarh Industries is producing the raw material and the coating material. The complete suit is being manufactured with the help of another vendor.

The country’s current production capacity is 7,000 suits per day. Efforts are on to ramp it up to 15,000 suits a day.

Production of bio suits in the country by the DRDO’s industry partners have been hampered due to non-availability of seam sealing tapes.

The DRDO has prepared a special sealant as an alternative based on the sealant used in submarine applications.

Presently, bio suits are being prepared using this glue for seam sealing by a DRDO industry partner.

The suits have been cleared by the Southern India Textile Research Association (SITRA) Coimbatore.

The DRDO expects this could be a game-changer for the textile industry. It can help mass produce the glue with the help of the industry to support suit manufacturers.

The DRDO has also developed a number of other products and technologies for defence against Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) agents.

The Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) Gwalior, a laboratory of DRDO, has developed Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Permeable Suit Mk V.

Fifty-three thousand suits have been supplied to the Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).