The Helipad Exhibition Centre in Gandhinagar is abuzz in the controlled chaos that characterises air and defence show venues on the eve of their inauguration. India’s premier defence exhibition, Defence Exposition 2022 (called DefExpo 22), begins on Tuesday, but exhibitors are still touching up their displays, small groups of policemen are searching for their piquets, and security personnel are erecting their metal detectors and X-ray machines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate DefExpo 22 on Thursday.
DefExpo 22 was to be held in February this year but, with foreign exhibitors reluctant to come to India in the aftermath