On 9 April 1960, DSL was shifted to Metcalfe House and inaugurated by then Defence Minister V. K. Krishna Menon, in the presence of Pt.
DSL served as a precursor for as many as 15 present DRDO labs, including DRDL, SSPL, INMAS, FRL, ISSA, DESIDOC, DIFR, SAG, ITM etc.
The centre consolidated its R&D activities towards more specific and application oriented areas, such as liquid fuel technology, spectroscopy, crystallography, system engineering, biotechnology etc.
[6] The main charter of the lab revolves around progressing in areas of photonics, electro-optic counter measures (EOCM), low and high-power lasers (HPL).
LASTEC also develops and delivers directed-energy weapon systems for the Indian Armed Forces, based on high-power laser technology.