The 12th edition of DefExpo-2022, India’s only land, naval & homeland security systems exhibition is showcasing the rapid growth in India’s indigenous defence capability. The biennial exhibition was earlier scheduled from March 10-14, but postponed. According to India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), the aim of the latest edition of DefExpo is to showcase the might of India’s domestic defence industry which is now powering ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ resolve of the Government of India.
The latest edition of DefExpo features the 2nd edition of the India-Africa Defence Dialogue (IADD), and the first edition of the Africa & Indian Ocean Region plus (IOR+) conclave. DefExpo 2022 also marks the first anniversary of the formation of the seven new defence companies, which were carved out of the erstwhile Ordnance Factories. All these companies are participating for the first time at DefExpo.
Being held for the first time at Gandhinagar, in the Northern Indian state of Gujarat, India, the inaugural ceremony and seminars of DefExpo-2022, were held at Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre (MMCEC) and exhibition at Helipad Exhibition Centre (HEC). There will be live demonstrations on all five days at Sabarmati River Front (SRF) and ship visits allowed for the public by the Indian Coast Guard at Porbandar.
Focus on Indigenisation
With the Indian Government now making clear its focus on indigenisation and procurement of defence products from the domestic resources, the expenditure on defence procurement from foreign sources has reduced from 46 per cent to 36 per cent in the last four years i.e., from 2018-19 to 2021-22. Between 2018-19 to 2021-22, the MoD accorded its Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for 162 proposals of defence procurement worth Rs. 251 billion approximately, under various categories of capital procurement from domestic sources.
To further the pursuit of self-reliance in defence manufacturing and to minimize import by India’s state-owned defence firms, the Department of Defence Production, which falls under the MoD notified two Positive Indigenisation Lists (PIL) of sub-systems/assemblies/sub-assemblies/components in December, 2021 and March, 2022. The 1st list contained 2,500 items, which have already been indigenized and 351 items which have been taken up for indigenisation. The 2nd list consisted of 107 strategically important Line replacement units/major sub-assemblies. The items are notified with a timeline beyond which there would be an embargo on their import. Till date, 154 items out of 235 items from the 1st Positive Indigenisation List and 4 items out of 107 items from the 2nd Positive Indigenisation List have already been indigenized. 72 items out of total of 214 items mentioned in the 1st and 2nd PILs have been indigenised by India’s state-owned defence public sector undertakings well before their original indigenisation timelines of December 2023, December 2024 and December 2025.
The remaining 142 items are being indigenised to meet the timeline of December 2022. Some of the main sub-systems/ line replacement units (LRUs) indigenised include magazine firefighting system for ships, steering gear system and fin stabilisers with control for frigates, pressurised containers for Akash SAM systems, systems for the Konkurs ATGMs and electric motors, decontamination sets and prism optical instrument for main battle tanks. Beside these items, some critical components include intermediate castings for helicopter, polychropene rubber band for submarines and high-pressure regulating valves for ships.
To encourage innovation in defence, the MoD launched the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) programme in April 2018. iDEX is aimed at creation of an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Industries including Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Start-ups, Individual Innovators, Research & Development (R&D) institutes and Academia and provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D which has potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.
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