The expo is coinciding with the forthcoming arrival of the first Rafale fighter aircraft for Indian Air Force (IAF) which has a game-changing set of weapons from MBDA

The company has been present in India for almost six decades and has played a very critical role in India’s defence modernisation needs. And this year keeping in line with the theme of the expo – ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’, the French company Thales will be showcasing defence technologies that are digitally driven and future-focused.

It will show it’s Digital transformation area the Targeting and Reconnaissance pod Talios, which will be embedded in artificial intelligence in the future and will showcase Pathmaster, the first fully configurable unmanned mine countermeasures system.

They will demonstrate combat systems including a fully integrated Soldier System capability, SYNAPS software-defined radios among the family of communication devices, armaments and mock-up missiles supporting air defence systems such as STARStreak and lightweight multi-role missiles.

They will exhibit Live Face Identification System, a video-based biometric facial recognition system for tracking and recognition and a multi-sensor integrated drone countermeasures solution Eagleshield.

Anti-submarine warfare solutions — Captas 1 and Aero & Naval connectivity & Identification solutions such as Nextwave, Interrogator Friend Foe TSB 2510 etc. will be also on display.

MBDA

The French company has two exciting focuses — providing the highest performing missile technologies and secondly delivering on Make in India as part of the company’s longstanding partnership strategy with India.

The expo is coinciding with the forthcoming arrival of the first Rafale fighter aircraft for Indian Air Force (IAF) which has a game-changing set of weapons from MBDA. Most notably the SCALP deep strike missile and Meteor air-to-air missile, and these are the highest performing missiles of their type available anywhere in the world. These missiles will provide India with the ability to stealthily strike deep at enemy targets and to dominate totally in air combat.

The company has been working in partnership with both the government and the Indian industry to build the country’s defence industrial capabilities for over 50 years.

While the two sides have been working on various new programmes, over time tens of thousands of MBDA-designed missiles have been built in India. For instance, there is extensive manufacturing by Indian industry of 15 major sub-assemblies of the MICA missile that arms both the IAF’s Mirage 2000 and the Rafale fighters. These sub-assemblies cover a wide range of complex technologies such as hi-specification mechanical, electrical, electro-mechanical and pyrotechnic items. Similar transfers to build India’s defence-industrial capabilities have also occurred on the Mistral and ASRAAM missiles, including Transfer of Technology (ToT) which have helped in setting up industrial capabilities for missile final assembly and integration testing.

L&T MBDA Missile Systems Ltd has submitted its first bid to the Indian Armed Forces and have offered Sea Ceptor, the latest generation of the naval air defence system. This has been in response to the Indian Navy’s Short-Range Surface to Air Missile (SRSAM) requirement.

Together MBDA and L&T MBDA Missile Systems Ltd will be showcasing a comprehensive portfolio of many other high performing missile technologies. These include ATGM5, Exocet MM40 B3, and Mistral ATAM. The ATGM5 will be designed and manufactured in India to meet India’s specific operational requirements.

Exocet MM40 Block 3 is the latest version of the famous Exocet anti-ship missile family, which has an extended range of out to 200 km. The Indian Navy is already operating the Exocet SM 39 from its submarines and could benefit from using Exocet in other operational areas.

The Mistral ATAM air-to-air missile launcher will be displaying this high-performing missile also as a man-portable air defence system (MANPADS), which performed exceptionally well in India’s firing trials.