Defence Technology Show in Chennai Swatantra Foundation Chennai Trade Centre

Описание: Tri-services Senior Personnel along with Israel and Russian Diplomats Inaugurated the Defence & Technology Show Edition 3.0 at Chennai Trade Centre today 4th Sep 2025
The 3rd edition of the Defence & Technology Show commenced today at the Chennai Trade Centre with the inaugural session
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The Chief Guest for the event was Lt. Gen. Karanbir Singh Brar, PVSM AVSM (Retd) who was joined in the stage by the senior officers from the Airforce, Navy and the Army – Air Commodore Pradeep Sharma, VSM (IAF), Commander Sudheer Menon (IN) and Colonel Anurag Mathur (IA-ADB).

The Show was opened for the visitors at 9:20 AM with the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony which was followed by the Inaugural Session.

S. Ramasubramanian, the President of Swatantra Foundation welcomed the gathering and the distinguished guests from the Diplomatic fraternity – Mr. Valerii Khodazhaev, Consul General for the Russian Federation for South India and Mr. Eyal Ben-Oz, Deputy Defence Attache from the Embassy of Israel in charge of Defence Cooperation & HLS (SIBAT) and the main sponsors, Mr. T. Vanchinathan from Jeanuvs, Mr. Aditya Mody of Devashish Polymers and Mr. Sandip Abraham of MRF.

In his inaugural address, Lt. Gen Brar commended the Swatantra Foundation for its dedicated efforts in conducting this event for the 3rd time. He mentioned that the tremendous impetus that is now there for indigenization for every single platform that the armed forces are going to use. He mentioned how Operation Sindoor had demonstrated the capabilities of indigenously developed systems integrated with systems from countries like Russia and Israel. He also mentioned about the tremendous potential for the private sector- academic collaboration. In this context, he mentioned that he would be happy to facilitate MSMEs with institutions like the IIT in Madras. He wished the organisers for a successful and productive shows in the future too.

Col. Anurag Mathur, of the Army Design Bureau shared his perspectives in terms of the Army’s approach to partner with private industry and MSMEs in the areas of Design and Development of systems. He mentioned that the ADB has a well thought out schemes of financial support for MSMEs that can work on Design and Development and also for special projects like Drones and advanced platforms.

Commander Sudheer Menon shared his perspectives on the Indian Navy’s strategic direction of building Ships and other Capital Asset platforms only in India and spoke about the Integrated Indigenization Centre that is based in Coimbatore for supporting MSMEs in working with the Navy.

This was followed by Air Commodore Pradeep Sharma, who shared the Indian Air Force perspectives. He mentioned about the tremendous strides made in indigenization and the advances made in platforms like Tejas and Prachand. He mentioned that India will soon emerge as major supplier of advanced Defence systems. He commended the work of Swatantra Foundation for organizing such an important event regularly.

The event was addressed by the Consul General of the Russian Federation for South India, Mr. Valerii Khodzhaev. The experienced diplomat recounted his long association with India and covered the extensive collaboration spectrum of the India-Russia Defence Cooperation. He mentioned that India had come a long way in terms of capability and capacity with regard to manufacturing, high technology development and the high potential for increased co-development between companies of the two countries.

Mr. Eyal Ben-Oz, Deputy Defence Attache, Embassy of Israel, in his presentation spoke about the unique model and experience of Israel in integrating Academia, Users and Defence Manufacturers in a cohesive eco system. He mentioned the role that Israel can play with a company-to-company partnership in India’s Make in India drive and the Indigenization and Modernization agenda of India. He offered to help Indian MSMEs connect with Israeli counterparts. He also expressed his intention to ensure that Israeli companies become part of this event in the future editions.

The Exhibitors Directory was also released to mark the occasion and the inaugural session ended with a vote of thanks on behalf of the Swatantra Foundation.

There were several dedicated seminars held through the day including one that was addressed by Air Vice Marshal VRS Raju VSM, on the topic “Challenges for Industry in Defence Indigenization”

This edition has attracted over 200 plus MSME participants, all the three services, DRDO and other major Defence PSUs and private sector companies. A large number of business visitors and students from select colleges visited the exhibition on the first day.

The event, with open entry for all visitors and businesses, will continue on 5th and 6th September and conclude with a Valedictory Function on the 6th Sept 2025