12th edition of Defence Expo to be held in Gujarat's Gandhinagar: MoD

The Ministry of Defence on Monday announced that the 12th edition of the Defence Expo, India's flagship exhibition on Land, Naval and Homeland Security systems, will be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The event will be held between October 18 and 22, 2022. The theme for this edition is 'Path to Pride' invoking nationalistic pride and encouraging citizens to partake in nation-building through establishing a capable indigenous Defence industry.

The five-day event will witness three business days followed by two public days. Live demonstrations showcasing the equipment and skill set of the Armed Forces, DPSUs and Industry will be held on all five days at Sabarmati River Front through active participation and synchronized efforts at all levels, informed the officials.

"The DefExpo 2022 will be held in a three-venue format across an area of 01+ lakh square metres at Helipad Exhibition Centre; inaugural event and seminars at Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre and Live demo at Sabarmati River Front," read a statement by the Ministry of Defence.

The exhibition is being planned with events such as Bandhan for forging partnerships between companies; seminars and webinars showcasing start-ups/MSMEs, including cutting-edge technology solutions for future battlefield; Artificial Intelligence in defence; student visits and showcasing Gujarat as an investment destination for aerospace and defence sector, etc.

The exhibition is in line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to achieve self-reliance in defence and achieve export of $5 billion by 2025. India has successfully established itself as an emerging defence manufacturing hub with numerous international orders being bagged by Indian companies in recent years.

The Indian Defence industry has been keenly anticipating DefExpo-2022 which is Asia's largest event in the defence sector. It was postponed in March 2022 due to logistical problems being faced by the participants.

The reforms in defence manufacturing are attracting greater interest from Indian Defence manufacturers and it is therefore anticipated that DefExpo-2022 would attract active participation from Indian companies.

At DefExpo-2022, the participants will get an opportunity to showcase their equipment and platforms and also be able to explore the strengths and capabilities of the expanse of the Indian Defence industry for forging Business partnerships. The event will help boost investment, expand manufacturing capacities and capabilities, and discover avenues for technology absorption.

The DefExpo-2022 website (www.defexpo.gov.in) is available to provide online services to exhibitors, besides hosting informative content about the various indigenous defence products and promoting heritage and leisure at Gujarat.

The exhibitor booking would be available for Indian companies which will include Indian subsidiaries of Foreign OEMs, Joint Ventures between Indian and Foreign companies, Defence Public Sector Undertakings, State Pavilions, DRDO and Indian companies.