Prahlada Rama Rao is an Indian aerospace engineer who served as the former director of Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), the largest of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) laboratories in India, known for his contributions to the Indian space programme. [

He was honoured by the Government of India in 2015 with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award.

He was vice chancellor of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology from 2011 to 2014.

The chief designer of many other Indian missile systems viz. Brahmos, Aakash, Prithvi, Agni and Nag.