P Sampathkumar has taken charge as chief technology officer (CTO-Communication) of Navratna defence PSU Bharat Electronics (BEL). He was working as additional GM of BEL’s design & engineering division (D&E) of military communication (Milcom) strategic business unit (SBU) at Bangalore, and AGM (production-Milcom)/BEL-Bangalore, before his elevation.
Sampathkumar joined BEL’s Bangalore Unit on December 1, 1986, as Probationary Engineer after completing BE in Electronics & Communication Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai. In a career spanning over the last 33 years, he has worked in various capacities and gained rich experience in diverse technologies of BEL.    Â
He was involved in the Production & Testing of Communication products and setting up of Automatic Testing Equipment (ATE) facilities for various types of Military Communication equipment during his early days at BEL’s Military Communication & Electronic Warfare SBU. He also gained domain expertise in testing of Fire Control Radars working as Testing Engineer.
His D&E team received the prestigious Raksha Mantri Award in 2010 for the development of encryption HF Radio. Sampathkumar also won the BEL R&D Award twice for his design efforts.