स्वावलंबन के पथ पर अग्रसर … भारतीय वायु सेना

नभः स्पृशं दीप्तम्  – Touch the Sky with Glory — This is the motto of our Indian Air Force, taken from Bhagvad Gita. The Samkrit saying comes at a time in the Kurukshetra battle when Bhagwan Sri Krishna‘s divine form is reaching the sky with glory, evoking fear and loss of self-control in Arjuna‘s mind. The Indian Air Force, similarly, aims to overwhelm its adversaries with its sophisticated air power. The Indian Air Force leading the path towards Self-Reliance… proud to present the #AeroShow2017 event summary…

The eleventh edition of the five-day event began on Tuesday, the 14^th February 2017, with Defence minister Sri Manohar Parrikar making a strong pitch for “Make in India”. Asia’s Premier biennial Air show, was concluded at Air Force Station Yelahanka, in Bengaluru on Saturday, the 18th February 2017.

Aero India 2017 provided a significant platform in bolstering business opportunities in International aviation sector. It has favourably poised an exponential growth over previous edition. A rapidly growing economy, defence preparedness challenges and opening up of defence production to private sector, have given a major fillip to the defence industry in India. It has also become a hub centre for defence business in the Asia.

Aero India 2017 has become a huge attraction for aviation aficionados and technocrats, who thronged the event in Bengaluru to witness the static and air display. The event turned out to be a carnival during its last two days as lakhs of people thronged the Air Force Station at Yelahanka in Bengaluru to witness the aerial feast. Braving the hot weather, people crawled through heavy traffic on the highway headed to the air base, which presented the picture of a sea of humanity, with crowds jostling for vantage places and craning their necks to witness the daredevilry of aerobatic teams from across the globe.

Besides, 65 ministerial and other high-level delegates from several countries that attended the event, the exhibition at the show saw participation from 549 companies, out of which 270 were Indian and 279 foreign. A five-member Chinese delegation from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force attended the show for the first time!

More than 750 Global and Indian companies have participated in this mega event, including scores of SMEs and MSMEs.

• Ministerial/Defence Heads/Secretary Level Delegations From 109 Countries
• More Than 150000 Business Visitors & 300000 General Visitors
• The Youth Innovative Pavilion
• India Export Pavilion
• Airport Infrastructure
• Defence Engineering
• Aerospace Industry
• Civil Aviation
• Defence Aviation
• SME and MSME

The companies participated in the Aero India 2017 is listed at the AeroIndia website.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, भारत ‘s premier Aeronautical industry leader (HAL) took the lead along with other companies in sponsoring this mega event in showcasing the majesty and the might of Indian Defence forces. Among others were defence technology manufacturing companies such as Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Eight TATA Industries, Wipro’s services for Aerospace and Defense Industry, Reliance Aerostructure Limited and many proud SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) and MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises). Many foreign firms including the global majors like Dassault Rafale, Airbus and Boeing chased the #MakeinIndia goals at air show!

The main themes of this event are #MakeInIndia and #DefenceManufacturing. The Make in India plan seeks to cut the country’s dependence on imported weapons and position the country as a hub of defence manufacturing.

Tejas, the Indian single-seat, multi-role light fighter jet was the main highlight and a great source of pride. This fighter jet was designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Navy. The aircraft has a tail-less compound delta-wing configuration, which gives it high maneuverability. The LCA was officially named “Tejas” in 2003, meaning “Radiant” in Samskrit by the then Prime Minister Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, who took over as the head of the Indian Air Force two months ago, did a 20-minute sortie in the Light Combat Aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd., Tejas.

India signed 51 contracts valued at Rs 1.16 lakh crore with foreign vendors for buying weapons and equipment, compared to 90 deals worth Rs 83,344 crore inked with Indian suppliers, in the last three years. The defence ministry has also accorded its acceptance of necessity – the first step towards making an acquisition – for 85 projects worth Rs 1.6 lakh crore in the last two years. Many of these projects come under the Make in India plan.

Airbus has partnered with the Tata Advanced Systems Limited to set up a final assembly line for C295W military transport planes in the country. The C295Ws will replace the Indian Air Force’s ageing Avro fleet as part of a $2-billion programme for 56 new planes. While 16 of these will come in a flyaway condition, the remaining will be built in India.

Airbus has also tied up with Mahindra Defence for manufacturing military helicopters. The group aims to make India the global hub for manufacturing AS565 Panther helicopters for catering to domestic as well as international markets.

British engine maker Rolls-Royce will also pursue opportunities to “co-create, co-develop and co-manufacture” high-end products in India in collaboration with local partners. “Aero India highlights the complete spectrum of the country’s aerospace and defence interests. For us, this is a significant platform to showcase our continued commitment to support India’s future indigenisation and self-reliance ambitions” said Rolls-Royce India and South Asia chief Kishore Jayaraman. The company exhibited the Adour Mk951 engine, which powers the latest variant of the Hawk aircraft. The IAF’s Jaguar fighter planes have been flying with Rolls-Royce Adour Mk811 engines since 1981.

European missile maker MBDA also believes that the #MakeInIndia initiative holds potential. It has offered to share its latest guided missile system technology with India, and will pitch for it again at the air show.

The IAF’s latest Rafale fighters will be equipped with the MBDA-built Meteor Beyond Visual Range missiles, whose no-escape zone is touted to be three times greater than that of current medium-range air-to-air missiles. It has a range of 150 km. The French aircraft will also be equipped with the MBDA’s Storm Shadow/SCALP missile, which can hit targets at a range of 560 km.

The air show was also witness to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) delivering the country’s first indigenous airborne early warning and control system (AEW&C) to the IAF in initial operational clearance configuration, bringing it a step closer to induction. An Embraer-145 plane mounted with AEW&C systems took part in the Republic Day parade for the first time last month. India inked a $208-million deal for three Brazil-built Embraer-145 planes in 2008 as part of a DRDO programme to scale up the IAF’s AEW&C capabilities.

The five-day event saw firms from Russia, Europe, Israel and the United States – among others – hard selling their latest armament technologies to India in the hope of partnering with indigenous companies for setting up manufacturing bases that would cater to the military’s future requirements.

(Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah could not make it to the inaugural of Aero India as he had to reply to the Governor’s address to the joint session of the State legislature. The State government was instead represented by Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries R.V. Deshpande).

Aero India has already carved a niche for itself globally as a premier aerospace exhibition, with tenth successful editions organised since 1996.

Besides, 65 ministerial and other high-level delegates from several countries that attended the event, the exhibition at the show saw participation from 549 companies, out of which 270 were Indian and 279 foreign. A five-member Chinese delegation from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force attended the show for the first time! More than 750 Global and Indian companies have participated in this mega event in 2017, including scores of SMEs and MSMEs. The various overseas delegations were accommodated over a gross exhibition area of 108,250 sqm.

Memorable moments of the event captured by the author are placed in this Video:

Bhāratīya Vāyu Senā  –  स्वावलंबन के पथ पर अग्रसर …  

Source:

Aero India https://www.aeroindia.in

HAL: HAL Make In India

ET Report: Eight Tata companies-display–of-defence-Aerospace-expertise-at-aero-India

ET Report: Reliance Aerostructure-venture-with-rafale-manufacturer-dassault-aviation

HT Report: Foreign-firms-to-chase-make-in-india