Over the last 10 years, Def Expo has become one of largest event of its kind in the world. The tenth edition of this expo recently concluded in Chennai. The event which spanned over four days showcased India’s defence manufacturing capabilities to the world. It had live demonstrations, seminars and flying displays. It had participation from major defence manufacturing nations like the US, UK, Russia, France, Israel, Sweden among others. An estimated number of over 670 defence firms participated in the exhibition of weapons and military hardware. The event was formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister. 

The exhibition was focussed on showcasing India as an emerging defence manufacturing hub and exporter of defence products. There were many Indian firms that participated in the expo which included L&T, Tata group, Kalyani Bharat Forge, MKU, Mahindra group, DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization), Bharat Dynamics Limited, HAL, BEML, and many others. The Defence Ministry had recently come out with a draft policy which envisaged achieving a turnover of 1,70,000 crore rupees in military goods and services by 2025 by promoting the domestic defence industry. But currently there is hardly any major equipment being manufactured by the private sector. 

The presence and technology demonstrations from Indian companies in the Def Expo assumes importance in this context. The defence manufacturing is unique in terms of government involvement as it needs to grant a license to manufacture arms and ammunition. Since the government is the sole buyer, it needs to grant an order or even permission to export. Hence it is very essential to infuse confidence in defence manufacturing by awarding some big-ticket manufacturing contracts, which have been in the pipeline for a long time. Some of them included projects such as FICV (Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle) which was approved in 2008 but is yet to reasonable process. 
Notwithstanding this there was lot of excitement at the Defence Expo 2018, especially among the global aerospace giants as India announced plans to procure 110 fighter aircrafts. There were announcements on the sidelines of the expo such as: 

• Boeing’s announcement of partnership with HAL and Mahindra Defence Systems for the manufacturing of F/A-18 Super Hornet in India for its air force.
• Lockheed Martin’s plans to manufacture Javelin Missiles in India in addition to the F-16 fighter jets
• Signing of MoU between L&T and BEL to cater to the domestic and export markets for defence products and systems. 
• The collaboration announcement between Adani Group, Punj Lloyd and Rave Gears for the design, manufacture and assembly of high precision gears and transmission systems for rotary platforms.
• The announcement of strategic partnership between Kalani group and Plansee Tungsten Alloys in areas of special metallic penetrators for manufacture of high-end ammunition.  
• MKU Limited and Thales’ s MoU for strategic co-operation in the development and production of optronic devices and F90 close quarter battle (CQB) rifle for soldiers.