The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced that India’s flagship exhibition on Land, Naval and Homeland Security systems, DefExpo will take place from October 18-22 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. DefExpo was originally planned to take place in March but was postponed due to logistical problems faced by the participants.
DefExpo 2022 is expected to showcase the growth in India’s indigenous defence industry, which is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of achieving self-reliance in the defence sector and attaining the goal of $5 billion in exports by 2025.
According to an MoD release, DefExpo 2022 will be held in a three-venue format across an area of 1+ lakh square metres at Helipad Exhibition Centre; inaugural event and seminars at Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre and a Live demo at Sabarmati River Front.
The 12th edition of the show will be held over five days, divided into three business days followed by two public days. It will include live demonstrations on all five days, at Sabarmati River Front, of equipment used by the Indian armed forces and new equipment developed by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU).
The MoD has launched seven new defence companies; Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX); Defence Innovation Start-up Challenge (DISC); Defconnect; Artificial Intelligence in Defence (AiDef), in an effort to spur innovation in India’s defence sector. The results of these initiatives are also slated to be showcased at DefExpo.
According to the MoD, a sizeable number of participants have retained their presence at DefExpo, despite postponing the event. These companies will be reallocated their space. Bookings of space for new exhibitors will commence from August 15, 2022. To encourage participation, a 25% discount is being offered on the earlier space and ticket rates for DefExpo-2022 to encourage greater participation from Indian companies.