Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that his government's goal is to increase India's defence exports to USD 5 billion in the next five years. Speaking at the Defence Expo 2020, here, he said: "Artillery Guns, Aircraft Carrier, Frigates, Submarines, Light Combat Aircrafts, Combat Helicopters are being manufactured in India. Now our goal is to increase defence exports to $ 5 billion i.e. about Rs 35 thousand crores in the coming 5 years." "The world's second-largest population, the world's second-largest army and the world's largest democracy, how long could it depend only on imports," Modi said.

He said that there are two major requirements for the development of modern weapons - the high potential of research; and development and the production of those weapons. "Our government has made it a major part of our national policy in the last 5-6 years. I understand that national security can be made more powerful by the partnership between the user and the producer," the Prime Minister said. "Earlier, defence manufacturing had a lot of problems with the private sector testing infrastructure. Avenues have now been opened for this and DRDO has a policy of Transfer of Technology without charge for Indian industries," he added.

The Prime Minister said that Uttar Pradesh will emerge as one of the biggest hubs of defence manufacturing in the coming time. "Uttar Pradesh is the largest state of the country. In the coming time, the state will be one of the biggest hubs of defence manufacturing. It is a matter of happiness that Defence Expo is being held here in the new decade. More than 1,000 defence manufacturers and 150 companies across the world are present," he said.

Modi said that it is a big opportunity for India's youth along with those who care about the country's safety and security. "India's security will increase with Make in India and new employment opportunities will be generated in the defence sector. When the 21st century is discussed in the world, attention is naturally drawn towards India. Today's Defense Expo is a testimony to India's vastness, its diversity and its wide participation in the world," he said.

"Those who are aware of subjects like defence and economy surely know that India is not just a market. India is an immense opportunity for the whole world. Wrong use of technology and terrorism or Cyber Threat, these are a big challenge for the whole world. In view of the new Security Challenges, all the Defense Forces of the world are developing new technology. India is also not untouched by this," the Prime Minister said.

He further said that seeing new security challenges, the security forces are developing new technologies. "Our aim is to develop 25 products based on artificial intelligence in the next 5 years," Modi said.  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.