Modi arrives in Lucknow to inaugurate Defence Expo 2020 today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday arrived in Lucknow where he will preside over the inaugural ceremony of Defence Expo 2020.

The Prime Minister was welcomed by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath upon his arrival at Lucknow airport.

Service chiefs of 38 countries have confirmed their participation for the 11th edition of the Expo.

The event promises to bring in new technologies and technological solutions, where defence manufacturing companies from India and abroad will showcase their products and services in the defence arena on a single platform, the Ministry said in a statement.

The main theme of this year's event is 'India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub' and the focus will be on 'Digital Transformation of Defence'.

As many as 1028 companies have registered for participating in this year's event, as against 702 in the DefExpo 2018. The number of participating foreign companies have also increased to 172 from the previous figure of 160.

At the event, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will display models of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Do-228 and Hawk at its indoor stall.

Apart from these, some of the avionics, accessories, assemblies, products such as Indigenous Digital Map Generator (i-DMG), Engine and Flight Display Unit, Gas Turbine Electrical Generator (GTEG)-60, Air Producer Engine, Glass Cockpit for Do-228, Automatic Target Recognition (ATR), Digital Sand Rapid Prototyping Technology, etc., will also be displayed.