India, China and Iran have set up pavilions at the ongoing Army 2023, the 9th International Military-Technical Forum organised by Russia. The India pavilion, which has stalls by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and three Defence Public Sector Undertakings, was inaugurated on Monday by India’s Ambassador to Russia Pavan Kapoor, and was visited by senior Russian government officials, including Russian Defence Minister General Sergei Shoigu.
The three DPSUs present are Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), and Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL). A representative of Bharat Dynamics Limited is present, too. BrahMos Corporation, which is a joint venture between India and Russia, is also present at the expo.
China and Iran, which like India operate a large variety of Russian equipment, have set up huge pavilions, displaying a range of locally developed equipment.
“Inaugurated the India Pavilion at the International Military Technical Forum ARMY2023. Pleased to show Deputy PM Denis Manturov some excellent products on offer from DRDO and Defence PSU’s BEL, BEML and GSL,” Mr. Kapoor posted on social media.
The BrahMos pavilion drew interest from officials of many countries. As reported by The Hindu earlier, several countries have expressed interest in the supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia, with Indonesia and Malaysia in advanced stages of discussions. The Philippines became the first export customer of BrahMos as it signed a $374.96 million deal in January 2022 for three missile batteries, and training for operators and maintainers.
The 11th Moscow Conference on International Security is being organised on the sidelines of Army 2023. It saw the participation of Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu, and several other senior military officials from various countries.
“I visited your exposition yesterday, it broadly represents the military-industrial complex of China. I saw a lot of new and promising things,” General Shoigu said in a statement, referring to the Chinese pavilion he had visited.
During a working meeting with his Chinese counterpart, General Shoigu spoke of the two countries’ relations. “We maintain high-level contacts, delegation exchange is actively underway, we conduct joint exercises and trainings — all world channels and not only show this — about our joint patrols, both on land, sea and in the air,” he said, according to the statement.
