On Friday’s official sources said, India’s defense ministry has taken an in general decision to host the upcoming edition of Aero India. Asia’s largest aerospace exhibition Aero India is to be host in Bengaluru’s traditional venue from February 3-5 next year. Since its establishment in 1996, Bengaluru has been hosting the event.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has already held several internal meetings on hosting the mega event, the sources said.
The ministry decided to hold the bi-yearly event as planned following inputs from the domestic defense industry and global aerospace majors.
A source said that the officials would manage the event while taking maximum precautions against the coronavirus pandemic. The defense ministry also plans to exhibit its initiatives to promote India’s defense manufacturing at the event.
The Ministry Revealed Initiatives to uplift Domestic Defense Production
On August 9, the defense minister announced that India would stop importing 101 weapons and military platforms. Importing of transport aircraft, conventional submarines, cruise missiles, light combat helicopters, and sonar systems will make a stop by 2024. Notably, the subcontinent is among the largest importers of arms globally.
The DRDO on Monday associated 108 military systems and subsystems like tank transporters, navigation radars, and missile canisters. The move is likely to support and encourage the domestic industry to design, develop, and manufacture these arms.
The premier organization is also about providing support to industries for design, development, and testing. It will provide support on a requirement basis. The target has set in developing the 108 systems and subsystems for next year.
According to the available data, the country’s armed forces are likely to have approximately 130 billion USD in expenses. It would be in capital procurement in the upcoming five years. India’s government decided to support domestic defense manufacturing and wants to reduce dependence on imported military platforms.
The defense ministry (1) has set a goal of turnover of 1.75 lakh crore INR in defense manufacturing in the next five years. It also includes an export target of 35,000 crore INR worth of military hardware.
