Defense Expo 2020

Defense Expo 2020

DefExpo-2020, a flagship biennial event of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, one of the largest events of its kind is being held for the first time in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh from 5th to 9th Feb 2020. The 11th edition of Def Expo promises to bring new technologies, technological solutions, where Defence manufacturing companies from India and abroad showcase their products and services in the Defence arena, on a single platform. The tremendous response shown by Defence manufacturing companies and the partner countries will surely hold Defence Expo 2020 on a higher pedestal in terms of the offerings for Defence related industries.

DefExpo Event and Theme

• The main theme of the DefExpo India- 2020 is ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’ and the focus will be on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’.
• Reflecting the Government’s focus on ‘Make in India’, Def Expo 2020, would offer an excellent opportunity for the Indian Defence industry to showcase its capabilities and promote its export potential. Defense Expo 2020 would prove to be an effective platform to showcase the unique products that help to achieve the Digital Transformation of Defence, where India’s Defence public sector units, and also India's growing private industry and MSME will be bringing their cutting-edge technology products to be showcased to the World.

Participation

• The number of companies registered for participating in the DefExpo 2020 has reached 1,028. In the DefExpo 2018, held in Chennai, 702 companies had participated. Thus, it has become by far the biggest ever DefExpo to be held in India.
• The number of participating foreign companies has also increased to 172 from the previous figure of 160.
• The booked exhibition space by exhibitors for DefExpo 2020 has gone up by 96 percent to over 43,021 square meters, compared to around 27,000 during the last edition. Defense Ministers and Service Chiefs of 38 countries have confirmed their participation for the DefExpo 2020. A substantial number of Memoranda of Undertaking (MoUs) are expected to be inked during the Expo, resulting in forging of new business collaborations.

Highlights of the event:

• Live demonstrations of the services, DPSUs and industry showing the land, naval, air and internal security systems in action. A live demonstration will be held at two locations viz. one at the exhibition site and the other at the Gomati riverfront. There will be no damage to the environment during the Gomati River Front display.
• Business seminars are being organized by both international and Indian Industry chambers viz. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Ph.D. Chamber of Commerce and Industry, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), SYNERGIA, Directorate of Standardisation (DOS)/Department of Defence Production (DDP), US-India Business Council (USIBC), US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), etc. The seminar topics are futuristic and include discussions on artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), drones, wired warrior, etc.
• Ministers from 15 African countries shall participate in the conclave.
• For this exposition, technology has been used as an enabler and for the first time, the DefExpo App was released by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh on December 27, 2019, which is available on Apple App Store and Android Play Store. The main features of the app are to ‘inform, engage and feedback’. It provides detailed information about the day-to-day events; participating exhibitors; DPSUs, guest speakers of seminars/webinars; publications i.e., electronic brochures and e-books; maps and directions of the venues and city weather.
• The India Pavilion will showcase the combined strength of India’s public sector and private sector in defense production.

Source: PIB