SIDM, October 22

DEFCOM, India’s International Conference & Exposition on Military Communication, has evolved over the years to become a landmark platform for collaboration between the Indian Armed Forces, Academia, Research and Development Organizations and the Industry on all aspects pertaining to Information and Communications Technology applications in the defence forces. 

DEFCOM 2019 is being jointly organized by the Corps of Signals of Indian Army, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and will be held on 26 and 27 November 2019 at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi. “Communications as a Decisive Catalyst for Jointness” has been selected as the key theme for the conference this year. The Curtain Raiser event for the DEFCOM INDIA 2019 was held on 22 October 2019 at the Indian Habitat Center, New Delhi and was attended by the dignitaries of the Indian Armed Forces, Academia and delegates from the Industry. 

While delivering the welcome address, Commodore Mukesh Bhargava (Retd), Member, CII National Committee on Defence and Member of the Board of L & T Defence lauded the initiatives of the Indian Army to promote “Make in India” and encourage enhanced participation of the Indian industry to deliver future war-fighting capabilities through indigenous efforts. Cmde Bhargava highlighted the capabilities of the Indian industries in several fields of ICT and the industry’s keenness to participate in the capability development and modernization programs of Indian Army. 

The Chief Guest for the event, Lieutenant General Rajeev Sabherwal, AVSM, VSM, Signal Officer-in-Chief and Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Signals, in his address, highlighted the recent announcement on the appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) by the Hon’ble Prime Minister and how that stands as an important milestone towards achieving the vision of ‘jointness’. The SO-in-C, while elaborating the critical role of efficient and secure communications in the war-fighting capabilities, recounted the development of modern-day Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Information, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance {C4I2SR} systems. 

In his address, General Sabherwal dwelt on the theme - “Communication as a Decisive Catalyst for Jointness” for DEFCOM 2019. He mentioned the recent Tri-Services Defence Communication Network is a significant step towards “jointness”. He emphasised the need for providing state-of-the-art C4 systems for the Services and sought active collaboration from Industry for developing systems like Cloud Solutions, Software Defined Radios, Tactical Access Switches etc. 

The address, by the Chief Guest, was followed by the release of the Brochure for DEFCOM 2019, which outlines the session-wise sub-themes for the Conference. An exhibition to show case the industry capabilities and products has also been planned to be held during the conference.

In his concluding remarks, Lieutenant General JP Nehra, PVSM, AVSM**(Retd), Principal Advisor (Defence) of CII, further highlighted the crucial role played by DEFCOM over the years in promoting collaboration between the Armed forces and the Industry in Information and Communications Technology domain. He also encouraged the Industry to actively participate in the DEFCOM 2019 Exhibition with their solutions and products to enhance Defence communications. He also invited the industry and academia to participate with their Papers covering innovative ideas and technology solutions for publication the DEFCOM journal, which will be released during the conference.