Navy-Industry Seminar, Interaction at Naval Armaments Expo

New Delhi, July 17 (UNI) An International Seminar and Exhibition on Naval Armaments 'NAVARMS-07' is being jointly organised by the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here later this week.

Defence Minister AK Antony will be the Chief Guest on July 19 at the inaugural of the two-day event which has at its focus the objective of creating awareness about the emerging opportunities for greater participation of Indian and foreign industries in India's defence production sector.

The seminar is expected to provide a platform for substantive deliberations aimed at evolving policies for future selection, sourcing and product support apart from harnessing the potential of public and private partnership for production of naval armament.

The discussions will also dwell upon evolving maintenance and quality assurance philosophies, said an official spokesperson here today.

The seminar will comprise five plenary sessions with the first focussing on advances made in armament technology as well as future trends. The second session is structured to apprise the armament manufacturers of the user's concerns and to lay down the ''basic ground rules'' for development of a weapon system.

The third session -- on 'Role of Industry-Opportunity and Insight' -- will aim to market the possibilities for a manufacturer -- be it a small-scale industry or an MNC -- for armament production.

This will be followed by a session on 'Infrastructure Requirements of the Users and Industry'.

The synergy that could be brought about by the pooling of the technical expertise and resources available with the Defence Research&Development Organisation (DRDO) and private industry, the infrastructure that would be needed to be built to promote indigenous production as well as product support are some of the issues that will be deliberated upon during the two-day event.

Foreign armament manufacturers from the United States, UK, Germany, Italy, Israel and France were expected to participate in the exhibition and seminar, the spokesperson said.

This maiden attempt was expected to help bridge the gap between the perception of the industry towards armament production and the Indian Navy's expectations from the Industry.

UNI