L&T’s spectrum of high-end defence offerings creates a buzz at India’s arterial defence show
DefExpo 2022, the 12th edition of the biennial marquee event hosted by India’s Ministry of Defence, showcasing land, naval, air as well as homeland defence systems, was held at Gandhinagar in Gujarat from 18-22 October.
In addition to the various defence platforms and equipment used in conventional warfare, the event saw the display of advancements in deep sea technologies, cyber warfare, underwater swarm drones, artificial intelligence and space warfare.
L&T, India’s largest private-sector defence player, put up a magnificent display of transformational systems, platforms and solutions in the naval, land, unmanned, military communication and space domains at the five- day exhibition.
The theme of the L&T pavilion – Digitalise, Globalise, Customise – complemented the DefExpo 2022 theme Path to Pride. Showcasing a confluence of both conventional and futuristic technologies, L&T’s pavilion was a huge crowd-puller.
The spectrum of defence offerings from various L&T verticals – L&T Defence, L&T Valves, Heavy Civil Infrastructure and Smart World & Communication – displayed the benefits of L&T’s bandwidth of solutions. L&T-MBDA Missile Systems, a joint venture led by L&T, also displayed its offerings in a dedicated enclosure adjoining the L&T pavilion.
L&T’s systems and products which attracted the attention of senior dignitaries were the unmanned helicopter, close-in weapon system, high-power radar and 155mm/52 calibre gun, network-in-a-box and the rapid deployment communication system solutions.
The L&T pavilion was graced by not only the who’s who of India’s Defence establishment but also by defence delegations from other countries, business partners, vendors, industry delegates, media persons and interested citizens.
Among the VIPs who visited the L&T pavilion were Union Defence Minister Mr Rajnath Singh. He took keen interest in understanding various systems, including the unmanned vehicles. The L&T pavilion was also graced by the Minister of State for Defence Mr Ajay Bhatt, the Chiefs of Staff of the three services (the Navy, Army and Air Force), DRDO Chairman and the Defence Secretary among the other dignitaries.
During his visit, the L&T CEO & MD Mr SN Subrahmanyan appreciated the offerings displayed at L&T Pavilion.
Mr AT Ramchandani (Head – L&T Defence) and the senior leadership – including M/s S Ranganathan, Chandrashekhar Rao, Sanjiv Mulgaonkar, Anil Kulkarni, Mahesh Phadke, Laxmesh BH, Harshan Budke, under the guidance of Advisor Mr JD Patil – interacted at length with these dignitaries.
Structured business meetings were organised between L&T Defence officials and domestic as well as international customers. It was inspiring to witness young L&T-ites explain the functioning of the innovative platforms and systems to the dignitaries.
The learnings and takeaways from this event were high and will be evident in the days to come!
