TESTING THE WATERS IN GUJARAT

The recently held Defence Expo exhibition in Ahmedabad witnessed a strong naval presence. A report

The largest-ever DefExpo 2022 marked the emergence of India's defence industry as a sunrise sector for investment on global scale in line with the theme of the exhibition- 'Path to Pride'. Held at Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the fiveday event, witnessed unparalleled participation of over 1,340 exhibitors, businesses, investors, start-ups, MSMEs, armed forces and delegates from several countries. The grand extravaganza also had a strong naval element embedded in it. Following is glimpse into its intricacies.

Indian naval aviation

The Indian Navy concurrently operates 13 types of aircraft ranging from vintage Chetak helicopters to state-of-the-art anti-submarine Boeing-P8I jets. Also, there exists a mix of Russian, Western and indigenous platforms and associated systems resulting in wide variety of inventory. In order to ensure sustained supply of spares, deliberately wean away from foreign OEMs and to mitigate obsolescence, Indian Navy is aggressively pursuing indigenisation to ensure import substitution. This also ensured savings in foreign exchange in line with government directives.

The indigenisation efforts of the naval aircraft yards and other units are displayed in these stalls. In last decade alone, more than 1000 items have been indigenised inhouse. Some of the major indigenised items displayed at the event included batteries, heat exchangers, radar components, major

ground support equipment and aircraft tyres. It is noteworthy that in few cases, the indigenisation activities have been completed at a fraction of OEM cost, thereby offering considerable savings in revenue.