作者： bharat.cn

A defense giant
Indeed, India’s purchases amounted to almost 10 percent of all global arms imports between 2014 and 2018, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Now, New Delhi is set to speed up its military modernization even further, reportedly planning to spend a colossal $130 billion over the next 5-7 years.

Yet, India is also increasingly looking beyond the simple seller-customer role, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s has tied the country’s military modernization to his ‘Make in India’ initiative. That aspect is one that all foreign companies at the Lucknow expo will be emphasizing, defense analyst and The Hindu journalist Dinkar Peri.

One of the exhibition’s top priorities will therefore be to present the nation as an “emerging defense manufacturing hub” as New Delhi expects not just offers of cutting edge military equipment, but investments and technology transfers as well.

“DefExpo will provide the opportunity to professionals and the industry to find new meeting grounds for developing military industrial enterprises,” Modi said ahead of the exhibition.

Some foreign arms manufacturers are apparently ready to share at least some of their technologies with their customers in New Delhi, while others apparently still prefer to simply rely on their most advanced product offers in a bid to kindle India’s interest.

Peri also noted that India and Russia are expected to hold the fifth joint Military Industry Conference on the sidelines of the exhibition with “over 100 Russian and over 200 Indian industry leaders” expected to participate.

DefExpo 2020, which opens today in Lucknow, is the latest manifestation of India’s massive military modernization. The event will see arms industry grandees from all over the world fighting for attention of New Delhi purchasers.
Sitting on the northwest shore of the Gomti river, Lucknow is the heritage capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and the fourteenth most populous city in India. A cultural and artistic hub, Lucknow is also known as the ‘CCTV city’ of India, being the first in the country where more than 9,000 CCTV cameras are installed to keep an eye on crime — and where drones are deployed to keep watch on major areas during big events. Now, Lucknow will become the stage for one of the biggest defense expos worldwide.

The biannual event, held between February 5-8, has been dubbed the “mega defense exhibition” by India’s Deputy Defense Minister Shripad Yesso Naik. More than 1,000 domestic and foreign arms companies are expected to participate — as well as delegations from some 70 countries, with about a half led either by defense ministers or chiefs of staff.

Among the advanced weapon systems on display at DefExpo India 2020 is the Russian 57-mm gun turret. Action video of the shell-spewing death machine, which can target low-flying drones, was published by the producer.
The turret, or Automatic Artillery Weapon System AU-220M as the manufacturer prefers to call it, is a remotely controlled module armed with a 57mm main gun and a 7.62mm machine gun, full of sensors, stabilizer devices and other equipment.

The developer, a research subsidiary of Uralvagonzavod, says its product will be put on Russia’s future infantry fighting vehicles and other light armor to give them a firepower boost. The test video shows a land-based use of the system. But patrol boats large enough to carry the 3.65-ton module are a viable platform too.

AU-220M’s gun can fire its entire ammo reserve of 80 shells in just one minute and has an effective range of 14.5km. And if guided projectiles are used, it can effectively take out low-flying drones and other small aircraft. Potentially the turret may be operated from afar rather than by the crew of whatever craft is armed with it.