“All the three wings of the Defence are going out in a big way in modernising and upgrading inventory. Many new weapon systems and equipment are being procured and there is a lot more to look forward to in the future,” Air Marshal D.S. Khajuria, Director General (Systems), Indian Air Force, said here on Monday.
Speaking at an international seminar on “Role of SMEs in Defence and Aerospace” at the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, he said the IAF was in the process of acquiring state-of-the-art weapon system, radars, aircraft, communication systems, etc. There was immense scope for industry to come in.
The seminar was conducted by the Amrita Centre for Entrepreneurship in association with the Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies and Industries (SIATI), and CODISSIA.
The objective of the seminar was to highlight the opportunity for SME / MSME to become part of the indigenisation of India's Defence and aerospace sector.
“Role of SMEs in aerospace and Defence is very relevant in today's context with the changes in the Government policy promoting the interest of Indian Offset Partners. Once this is a reality, there is a lot of scope for medium and scale industries in this setting. Information technology systems, simulators, and such advances are coming into the Defence in a big way. We need qualified manpower to look after these needs. Indigenisation which is a Key Result Area of Defence Forces will also give scope for the SMEs to come in,” the Air Marshal said. C. G. Krishnadas Nair, honorary president, SIATI, said the small and medium industries had been playing a major role in the industrial development of the country. When SMEs work with Defence projects they got deeply involved. So there was a need for more involvement of the SMEs.
M. Kandasamy, president, CODISSIA, urged the medium and small industries in Coimbatore to make use of the opportunities available in the Defence and aerospace sector to showcase their capabilities.
P. Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor of the university, M. P. Chandrasekharan, Dean of Engineering, Amrita University, Baldvel Raj, president, Indian National Academy of Engineering, and Air Commodore (Retd) J. Varkey, honorary secretary general, SIATI, spoke.
Sessions on “Indigenisation Opportunities in Army, Navy and Air Force”, “Indigenisation Opportunities in HAL”, “Opportunities for Industries in Defence and Aerospace Components, Structures, Equipment and Systems – Manufacturing and Service”, “Offset Policy 2011”, “Sourcing Policy at EADS”, were held during the day.
