Companies belonging to the CZECHOSLOVAK GROUP (CSG) holding company will again present themselves at DEFEXPO 2022 trade fair in India. The 12th edition of the expo will take place from 10 to 13 March 2022 in the Western Indian city of Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat.
The companies ELDIS, RETIA, EXCALIBUR ARMY and TATRA TRUCKS will exhibit their current portfolio of products and services. These companies will be present at the joint national stand of the Czech Republic at the fair.
The Sternberg company EXCALIBUR ARMY (EA) is not a newcomer to the Asian markets. It develops and manufactures modern ground combat and support systems and retains service and modernisation capabilities for the Russian and the so-called Eastern technology, which is still widespread in India and Asia in general.
EA will pitch the spare parts for Russian origin, and Indian made T-72 or BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle at DEFEXPO 2022. The Indian Army fields about 1700 T-72 Ajeya Tanks and about 2500 BMP-2 Sarath IFVs.
Czechs have fielded an improved version of the T-72 tanks called T-72M4 CZ. The new version of the tank is equipped with an Italian FCS, Czech ERA, a new locally produced engine, electromagnetic mine-fighting equipment, GPS equipment, and a system for diagnosing the state of equipment. About 350 tanks were meant to be converted to M4 level, but only 30 were upgraded. The upgrade did not attract any foreign customers.
In 2002, Poland had signed a deal with India to upgrade the Indian Army T-72 tanks to T-72MI standards under Project Rhino. The upgrades did not take place.
EA is also offering spare parts for AV-15 rescue vehicles or AM-50 bridge cars on Tatra chassis, which are very common in the Indian Army. The company release says that the Indian Army might also be interested in modernised rescue and towing vehicles TREVA-15 or bridge cars AM-50EX and AM-70EX.
Representatives of the Kopřivnice car manufacturer TATRA TRUCKS will present the current portfolio of Tatra trucks to the Indian industry. The TATRA Truck range consists of the Tatra Force, Tatra Tactic and Tatra Phoenix model lines, all three of which are used in the armed forces of many countries worldwide. India is also one of the most important markets for the Kopřivnice car manufacturer TATRA TRUCKS. The Indian Army is one of the largest users of Tatra cars globally. TATRA TRUCKS is a strategic partner of the Indian state-owned company BEML, which manufactures Tatra vehicles for the Indian Army.
Radars
ELDIS Pardubice will present its comprehensive radar equipment solution for the airport. ELDIS is historically very successful in India, with almost 90 per cent of Indian airspace covered by radars manufactured and supplied by ELDIS.
RETIA will present a special portable radar ReTwis 5, detecting and monitoring people and living creatures behind non-metallic obstacles. With this device, RETIA has already succeeded in the USA and Europe. The Police of the Czech Republic field the equipment. ReTwis 5 with the battery weighs only 3.25 kg. The radar dimensions are 35x28x11 cm and have a range of 40 m. The radar starts up in 20 seconds and has a touch-sensitive display. The batteries last up to 5 hours, and the radar can keep footage up to 2 hours.
RETIA will also present a model of one of its main products, the compact 3D radar ReGuard, which can detect and track standard ground and air targets and unmanned drones. As a result, it can function as part of anti-drone systems. ReGuard uses both mechanical rotation of the radar head and electronic radar beam steering. The radar uses UWB (UltraWideBand) radio localisation technology.