All set for a smooth take-off

All set for a smooth take-off
DH News Service, Bangalore:
Six hundred participating companies, over 44,000 square meters of exhibition area, more than 1.25 lakh general visitors, 50000 business visitors, flying machines of every size and might, technologies unlimited.


Bucking global recessionary trends, ‘Aero-India 2009’, the 7th edition of the biennial international aerospace exposition, is all set to unfurl in a mammoth scale, at the Yelahanka Air Force Station here on Wednesday.

At the pre-launch press confererence on Tuesday, Pradeep Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production, asserted that this year’s air show would be a much-improved version, beating all past records.

For instance, only 176 exhibitors had turned up for the air show in 1998. The number has gone up to 592 this time.

Even the participation of Indian companies is on the rise - going up from 209 in 2007, to 289 this year.
To attract young minds, the organisers have roped in four engineering colleges - including the Indian Institutes of Technology at Powai, Kanpur and Chennai, to showcase their projects. The IAF also plans to teach schoolchildren a trick or two aeronautical techniques.

For the first time, India will display the export version of its indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv at the air show. State-owned aviation major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is all set to export five of the helicopters to Ecuador. “The Chief of the Ecuador Air Force will come to the air show to take the keys,” informed Kumar.

Afghanistan and Malaysia are yet to make any export requests following their earlier interest in the ALH, but talks are on with Mauritius and Surinam for sale, the Defence official said.

The success of India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan will also find an echo at the airshow. For the first time, the airshow will feature a space pavilion put up by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In another first, a Chinese delegation led by a Major General will also be participating at the show.

While the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas, the ALH, the Sarang and Suryakiran aerobatic teams and the ‘Hawk’ Advanced Jet Trainers, will be the stars of the IAF display fleet, the indigenously-developed Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) will be conspicuously absent.

At the 2007 airshow, an IJT prototype had an accident while taking off. Barely a week before that, another prototype had landed on its belly during a practice sortie.

The IJT is being developed to help the IAF in its routine pilot training programme.