The Directorate General of Naval Armament (DGONA) conducted a Technical Seminar and Exhibition on “Modern Storage Solutions for Explosives and Ammunition” at Varunika, Chanakya Bagh, New Delhi. P. Upadhyay, INAS DG Naval Armament, delivered the welcome address and brought out the need and significance of the seminar in the dynamic field of explosive storage and handling.

Vice Admiral Atul Anand, Addl Secretary DMA, was the Chief Guest and in his inaugural address he stressed upon the requirement of new technologies to resolve the critical issues of Mixing of different compatibility groups of explosives in ever increasing pressure on limited land resources. He recommended use of automation, robotics, IOT, AI driven technologies, fire resistant, energy efficient and shock absorbent material for ensuring controlled environment conditions, while handling and storage of explosives. It was emphasised that new infrastructure technologies such as Underground magazines, Unit Risk Principle (URO) magazines, High Performance Magazines (HPM) as approved by DRDO/ CFEES must be used across the services to reduce Quantity Distance (QD) requirements.

The event has seen active participation from the Three Services, Coast Guard, DRDO, Defence PSUs and Industries with indigenous solutions towards 'Aatmanirbharta'. Panel discussions were held and total 8 speakers (4 from the Services and 4 from Industries) presented technical papers on diverse topics such as Climatic Risk in Siting of Explosive Facilities, Smart Storage Solution for Weapons and Small Arms, Modular Ballistics Protection System, Palletization and New Design Magazines with emphasis on Indigenization, Innovation and Excellence which are also key principles of iDEX.