By Chaitali Bag
Moscow . 22 August 2021. ARMY Forum 2021 took off with a bang and a Russian show can never be complete without a strong Indian delegation, export market displays and a high powered opening ceremony.
The India Pavilion at the International Military Technical Forum – ARMY 2021was inaugurated jointly by Secretary , Department of Defence Production Mr. Raj Kumar and Ambassador of India to Russia Mr. Bala Venkatesh Varma, at Hall C of ARMY Forum 2021 in Patriot Expo Moscow. Also present were the Military Attaché Brig. Rajesh Pushkar, VSM, Naval Attaché Commodore Manish Chadha, VSM & Air Attaché Air Commodore Shailesh Ranjan, VSM .
The pavilion has Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Bharat Dynamics Ltd. (BDL), Goa Shipyard Limited, BEML and Ordnance Factory Board. Surprisingly very few for an Indian delegation in Russia, but probably COVID -19 has taken its toll. The private sector surprisingly also is negligible in attendance. But things are coming back to normalcy and the industry also like the rest of the world is learning to live with corona virus.
DRDO has been undertaking development of various defence systems with a vision to empower India with cutting edge technologies and a mission to achieve self reliance in critical defence technologies and systems, while equipping the armed forces with state-of-the-art weapon systems and equipments in accordance with requirements laid down by the three services.
DRDO is showcasing 11 world class export ready products at ARMY-2020 as part of India Pavilion including Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile ‘ASTRA’, Anti Tank Guided Missiles ‘NAG’ and its air-launched version ‘HELINA’, Ground Based High Performance Mobile Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) Systems, Weapon Locating Radar ‘SWATHI’, Air Defence Fire Control Radar ‘ATULYA’, Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems ‘ATAGS’, Main Battle Tank ‘ARJUN MBT MK1A’, Submarine Sonar Suite ‘SMS-X’, Low Frequency Dunking Sonar ‘LFDS-X’, and Torpedo Advanced Light ‘TAL’.
The cutting edge designs and developments from DRDO are translated into state of the art products and systems through a large industry base consisting of various public and private industries, in line with the vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
With defence systems developed in India finding success in export market, ARMY-2021 will reinforce the strength and marketability of these products in the global arena.
On the Day1 India was the talk of the show with it’s ribbon cutting, as the formal show inauguration by Russian Federation’s President Vladimir Putin is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
