October 2022 Full PDF final

DELHI DIARY
Indian Defence Secretary, Dr Ajay Kumar in Bilateral Meeting with the Lt Gen
Waker Uz-Zaman, Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division, Bangladesh on
the sidelines of 12th DefExpo, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on October 19, 2022.
DRDO has also developed ‘Pinaka'
multi-barrel rocket launchers
(MBRL) and is being manufactured
by private sector companies in India.
Initially developed with approximately
40km range, its advanced
version has an extended range of
70km to 90km. Pinaka (MBRL) can
launch twelve high explosive rockets
in 44 seconds, used successfully
during the Kargil war and primarily
made for the Indian army. A deal
has been signed to sell this to Armenia,
which is at present engaged
in conflict with neighbour Azerbaijan.
But all these didn’t happen by
chance. Long years of meticulous
planning has gone in the achievement
of this success. A peep into
the just-held DefeExpo will provide
us with an idea of the kind of
behind-the-scene activity being undertaken
by India to make a serious
foray and a long voyage in the international
defence market.
India hosted DefExpo, which is
Asia's largest, this October in the
“Invest for Defence is the first
ever marquee event of MOD
targeted to promote investment
in the defence sector in
the country, as well as foreign
original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs)”.
western state of Gujarat. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi upon assuming
office in 2014 embarked on an ambitious
plan, codenamed ‘Atmanirbhar
Bharat', aiming at self-reliance
in all sectors. As part of this project,
the indigenous defence production
sector, which comprises public sector
enterprises, private sector companies,
start-ups and joint ventures,
is working relentlessly to make the
“make in India'' programme a great
success. The five-day DefExpo was
a big sell-out, showcasing the big
push the Indian government is making
for technology acquisition for
production of defence goods within
the country and also engaging in
liaison with overseas importers to
establish linkages for export opportunities.
The expo created a forum
for prominent private sector defence
manufacturers to interact with government
officials and armed forces
leadership to enable them understand
the requirements of the defence
industry better.
A total of 28 defence ministers
from foreign countries were present
in this mega event where 1340
exhibitors participated in and 451
MoUs were signed with orders to
the domestic industry worth Rs
150,000 crores. The government of
India during the exhibition unveiled
an ambitious blueprint of $25 billion
defence production in the coming
years with an export target of
$5 billion. The Ministry of Defence
stated “Invest for Defence is the
first ever marquee event of MOD
targeted to promote investment in
the defence sector in the country, as
well as foreign original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs)”. Domestic
and foreign institutional investors and venture capitalists
enthusiastically responded to the government's
call and participated in the event. During the exhibition,
the prowess of the Indian defence manufacturing
industry was showcased through seminars, displays,
investment promotions and drone shows. A number
of panel discussions were held during this flagship
defence exhibition in which officials of the Ministry of
Defence, industry stalwarts, and armed forces leadership
participated and discussed the indigenousness
of advanced and futuristic products and technologies
necessary for land, naval, air force and homeland security.
Two special conclaves were organised targeting the
Indian Ocean region and the African nations.
It may be mentioned that the Indian defence budget
has gone up by 35% in the past three years. Ten states
have chalked out individual policies to attract investment
in the sector, and two defence corridors have already
become operational in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu. DRDO, the premier defence institute working in
the government sector, is at present engaged in 430
projects developing strategic and tactical weapon systems,
defence equipment and technologies. DRDO in a
press release has said it has designed and developed 30
ecospheres, which highlights the partnership with industry
and academia that has led to the advancement
of technology in its laboratories as well as manufacturing
of finished products in industrial outlets.
The contribution of DRDO in this sector must be specially
mentioned, as at a point of time, it was the singular
organisation engaged in developing armaments,
combat vehicles, engineering equipment, underwater
sensors and weapon systems, advanced computing,
microprocessors, solid state materials and high altitude
devices, system analysis and war gaming related
to defence production in India. When India test-fired
DRDO-developed laser-guided anti-tank missile from
indigenous Arjun main battle tank, also developed by
DRDO last June, it was another step forward in selfreliance,
but also a clear signal to foes regarding India's
defence preparedness.
Similarly, active collaboration is being held between
industry associations, think-tanks, public sector entities
engaged in defence manufacturing together with
service headquarters (SHQs) Ministry of Civil Aviation,
Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) and
state governments to encourage participation in this
niche area. The government is also encouraging setting
up of defence start-ups and medium and small
scale enterprises (MSMEs). Indian companies, Indian
subsidiaries of foreign OEMs, divisions of companies
registered in India and exhibitors having joint ventures
with Indian companies were among the 1340 DefExpo
exhibitors this time. Much stress was laid on exports,
financing and investment in defence, and R&D especially
focusing on aerospace and futuristic autonomous
technologies in air dominance.
Tata, Reliance, Mahindra, Adani, Larson and Tuburo,
Ashok Leyland, Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems,
Bharat Forge, and Lockheed Martin are some of the
prominent Indian manufacturers, which are engaged
in manufacturing defence related equipment from ammunition
to shipbuilding, from small devices to large
bulletproof armoured vehicles. Private players are, to
be more specific, engaged in the undermentioned hightech
areas, too:
Missile systems and subsystems;
Optronic systems;
Unmanned aerial systems for aerospace and aero structures;
Command and control systems;
Radar systems and subsystems;
Homeland Security solutions.
The ‘make in India' policy at the stratospheric, visionary level has given a patriotic long term aim for implementation
in a variety of business sectors. These include electronics, mining, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, thermal
power and other alternative energy, aviation, biotechnology, information technology, business process manage-
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