Defence Expo 2018: Date, time, venue details and key attractions

Defence Expo India 2018 - an international land, naval and internal homeland security systems exhibition - will be held from April 11 to April 14 at Thiruvidanthai in south Chennai. The objective of the expo is to showcase the country's defence manufacturing capabilities.

DefExpo 2018 will, for the first time, project India's defence manufacturing capabilities to the world, with the focus on the theme 'India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub'.

The four-day exhibition will showcase the strengths of India's defence public sector and uncover the country's growing private industry. It will see participation from 47 countries including the US, the UK, Russia, Afghanistan and Sweden, Finland, Italy, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nepal, Portugal, Seychelles and Vietnam.

A total of 670 defence firms including 154 foreign defence manufacturers will participate in Defence Expo 2018.

While this is the highest ever participation by Indian firms, there is a 10% drop in terms of international participation. Around 7% of the space has been allocated for Indian exhibitors. The total area for the exhibition is 2,90,000 sq ft, which is the largest among all exhibitions so far. Around 20% of the space is reserved for MSME.

Indian participation

This year, Indian participation include majors like Tata, L&T, Kalyani, Bharat Forge, Mahindra, MKU, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Bharat Dynamics (BDL), Bharat Earth Movers (BEML), Mazagon Dock (MDL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Goa Shipyard (GSL), Hindustan Shipyard (HSL), Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI), ordnance factories, and many others.

International companies

Major international companies, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing (USA), Saab (Sweden), Airbus, Rafael (France), Rosonboron Exports, United Shipbuilding (Russia), BAE Systems (UK), Sibat (Israel), Wartsila (Finland), Rhode and Schwarz (Germany) are among the many others who will be participating in the event.

India' indigenously developed military systems on display

India's indigenously developed land, air and naval systems will be showcased. The weapons and platforms to be displayed include the Tejas fighter jets, advanced towed artillery gun systems (ATAGS) designed by the DRDO Arjun Mark 2 tank, Dhanush artillery guns.

The potential of India's public sector, as well as private industries to manufacture components and sub-systems of major platforms, will also be a focus area.

India has been one of the largest importers of defence hardware and the government has been trying to promote the domestic defence industries to cut dependence on foreign procurement.

There is a growing demand for Indian built vessels from many countries in South Asia, ASEAN and Africa.