DefExpo 2016 – 10 Things You Need To Know

Hello all, India’s biggest Defence Expo 2016 began in Goa on 28^th March, 2016. It is India’s biggest ever land, naval and homeland security exhibition. The four-day biennial event was inaugurated by the Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. This for the first time, the Expo is being held outside the national capital New Delhi.

India is among a handful of countries in the world with indigenous capabilities in the defence fields such as multi-level strategic deterrence, ballistic missile defence, nuclear powered submarines, main battle tank, stealth destroyers, aircraft carriers and fourth generation fighter aircraft.

The exhibition would be showcasing India’s capabilities in land, naval and security systems as well as its emergence as an attractive destination for investment in defence sector. Many deals will be done with technology transfers and production lines setup in India!

Here are 10 things you need to know about DefExpo 2016:

1. Defence Expo 2016 is the 9^th edition of the series of biennial land, naval and internal homeland security systems exhibitions after the 8^th edition of DefExpo India, held in February 2014, recorded an unprecedented growth in foreign as well as domestic companies’ participation.
2. This edition is being held at Naqueri Quitol in Quepem Taluka of South Goa, India from 28^th to 31^st March 2016 and is the largest DeEexpo held to date.
3. The 2016 theme is “Rise of Futurism” and its vision is to make India prosperous by establishing world class science and technology base in defence sector.
4. It also seeks to provide India’s Defence Services decisive edge by equipping them with internationally competitive systems and solutions.
5. This Expo will see participation of 1,053 companies from 47 countries including major defence production countries like Russia, US, Germany, Italy, Japan and Israel, as against 368 companies from 30 countries in DefExpo 2014. They will display their warfare ware in their stalls to each other and demonstrate the capabilities of their defence equipment.
6. The four-day exhibition, will also witness 204 official delegations from 44 countries and around 750 non-official business delegations attending the show.
7. India will also showcase its emergence as an attractive investment destination in the defence sector. The event will also provide opportunity to domestic Public Sector Undertaking, private sector and related industries to demonstrate their capability to design, develop and deliver a wide range of military and civil products/services.
8. It will also see participation of companies in India including Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which will display live demo of Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AEWCS), Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Main Battle Tank (MTB) Arjun, Wheeled Armoured Platform AKASH, Air Defence System, Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher, state of art Radars, and other equipment.
9. The exhibition will have live demonstration of air display on March 28-29 at the site which is located adjacent to the Arabian Sea.
10. Traditionally held in the national capital, the DefExpo 2016 was relocated to the Naqueri plateau in south Goa for the current edition as a new convention centre is being built at the Pragati Maidan in Delhi.