Desi aircraft lead Bengaluru show
Bengaluru, Feb. 8: All eyes are on the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru as the world’s biggest military aircraft makers put on show their magnificent machines for the Aero India show over the next five days, hoping to swing some big deals from India as the country prepares to spend billions of dollars on defence purchases over the next decade.
Amidst spectacular air displays, twice each day, event organisers — the ministry of defence and the CII — are expecting a number of partnerships to materialise, as India’s private companies enter defence business.
The US is leading the charge of participating nations, pressing ahead with some 250 officials and business delegates as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, the world’s two largest military equipment companies vie for the $10 billion medium combat jet deal from India.
India will put on display its first indigenous fighter jet, Tejas, its first combat helicopters the LCH and the Dhruv, its first unmanned aerial vehicles. A number of Indian private companies too will put their growing capabilities in the aerospace sector on show.
The Tejas light combat aircraft, flush with the recent initial operational clearance, will take the bow during the inaugural ceremony. During the displays, it will fly for the first time with Smoke Winder missiles. The technology has been developed indigenously.
The minister of state for defence, Mr Pallam Raju sealed Bengaluru’s status as a global aerospace hub on Tuesday when he inaugurated the Cassidian Engineering Centre in the city.
It is the first foreign-owned, defence-oriented engineering centre in the country, officials of Cassidian, a division of the European EADS consortium said, adding that the centre, with 60 Indian engineers currently, would be part of its supply chain for its military electronics wares.
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