India’s growing aviation sector offers US aerospace companies an estimated $55 billion in export opportunities in large civilian aircraft and civil aviation infrastructure during the next five years.

The US participation in this 8th Aero India-2001 has been the largest with 200 participants. The US delegation ranges from Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer to senior Department of State and Department of Defense officials.

Locke is joined by a US delegation of 24 businesses seeking to promote exports of leading US technologies and services related to civil nuclear energy, civil aviation, defense and homeland security, and information and communications technology.

With airshow integral to the ceremony, the post-inauguration display began with three Mi-8 helicopters trooping the national tricolour, Indian Air Force (IAF) ensign and the Aero India flag.

A ‘Small Boy’ formation comprising one AN-32 and two Dornier aircraft flew next. Two Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) aircraft made a pass at high speed thereafter. The IJTs are set to replace the Kiran aircraft currently being used for advanced stage training of IAF pilots.

These were followed by five-aircraft arrowhead formations of Jaguar and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas.

A trident formation of three Sukhoi-MKIs pulled-up into the sky trailing smoke in its wake describing a trident pattern as they disappeared in three directions.

Surya Kirans, the IAF’s nine-aircraft aerobatics team came up with a new trail-blazing act, emblazoning the sky with the letters IAF, by the smoke trail from their aircraft. With audiences mesmerized, the tone was set for the other signature manouevres such as Delta, Loops, Barrel Rolls and Bomb Burst.

A scintillating display of the recently inducted LCA Tejas flown by Gp Capt S Krishna was applauded by all. Tejas can carry almost sixty percent of its basic weight as ordinance, a feat unmatched by any modern aircraft. The seven ton, tail-less delta wing Tejas encompasses modern design concepts, quadruplex digital fly-by-wire control system, advanced digital glass cockpit and is multi-mission capable by day and night.

Audiences also witnessed breathtaking displays by four of the MMRCA contenders - Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault Aviation’s Rafale, SAAB Aviation’s Gripen and Eurofighter’s Typhoon. Although Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Super Viper is at the air show, it did not fly in the inaugural session. The sixth aircraft, Russian Mig-35 is not participating in this edition of Aero India.

Ever the show-stopper, the air display by a Sukhoi-30 MKI flown by Wg Cdr A Shrivastava and Wg Cdr Parag Lal, with their loop-tumble-yaw and tail-slide manoeuvre, high angle-of-attack, slow speed flight using thrust vectoring, drew large applause.

HAL’s Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) also made a debut this year in the air display. The LCH was flown by Wg Cdr Unnikrishnan Pillai.
The display was capped-off with a four-aircraft display by Sarang team in Dhruv ALH standing out in their distinct peacock scheme painting on their helicopters.

A broad cross-section of US military aircraft and equipment are present at the show for static displays and aerial demonstrations, including, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules transport aircraft, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft Lockheed Martin F-16 Super Viper multirole fighter jet, Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet multirole fighter jet. The legendary PACAF F-16 Demonstration Flying Team will also attend and perform an aerial acrobatics display.

US Commerce Secretary, Locke’s first stop on his Bengaluru visit was Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.’s (HAL) facilities. HAL is one of Asia’s largest aerospace companies, employing approximately 34,000 people with roughly $2 billion in annual revenue. The company has partnered with leading US aerospace manufacturers – Boeing, Honeywell, and Lockheed Martin – on several projects. The US export content value for HAL is $40 to $50 million annually with hundreds of millions in future export opportunities.

“HAL’s supplier and partnership arrangements with US companies are
producing tangible benefits for both our economies by generating
greater industrial cooperation and commercial commitments, technology
sharing, and high-value jobs in both countries,” Locke said.

Apart from the Defence Minister, AK Antony, other Indian dignitaries present at the inauguration included Karnataka Chief Minister Dr BS Yeddyurappa, Minister of State for Defence, MM Pallam Raju, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal PV Naik, Army Chief General VK Singh, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, Secretary Defence Production RK Singh, DG CII C Banerjee, Chairman HAL Ashok Nayak, Chairman CII National Defence Council Shri Baba N Kalyani.

The present-day version of Aero-India deemed as the biggest air show in Asia began as a modest display of a few aviation assets as Avia-India in 1993. The biennial air show, renamed Aero-India since 1998, has only become bigger and more popular that must rank among one of the largest attended air shows around the world.

According to the statistics given by the organizers - Department of Defence Production (DDP) under the Ministry of Defence, the online request for registration of the general visitors this year has already exceeded the 175,000 mark, 100,000 more than the official 75,000 footfalls in 2009. The organisers are expecting the figure to reach 275,000. With enquiries and requests not showing any signs of abating, clearly Aero-India 2011 is on its way to top the charts.

Discounting Avia-India 1993, the growth in Aero-India since 1998 to 2005 was marginal. It began showing a quantum increase in the gross exhibition area only from the 2007 edition. While it hovered between the 7,000-18,000 sq mts mark from 1998 to 2005, it sharply rose to 30,000 sq mts in 2007 and 44,000 sq mts in 2009. This year, the organizers have increased the gross area to 75,000 sq mts, a significant 70% increase over 2009.

There are 675 exhibitors in this edition registering a 16% increase over the last edition that had 581 in all. As with all previous editions, this time around also international exhibitors score over the domestic ones in terms of participation. In 2009, the gap was marginal, 303 against 289. This time, the figure is 380 and 295, a growth of 25% for the international exhibitors against a mere five, for the domestic exhibitors.

With 30 countries set to participate this year including India, official representation from 60 countries number 350, a three-fold plus increase in the number of delegates, both official and business, with US leading with about 200, Germany-35, Italy-10, and 35 from remaining countries. Based on the online request for business passes, 70,000 business visitors and delegates will throng the venue, a figure twice that of 2009.

There are eight country pavilions and 63 chalets at the venue. While exhibition, air show, static display are integral to the air show, the concurrent events that will take place include media briefings and press conferences by Defence Minister, Chief of the Air Staff and exhibitors, business-to-business (B2B) meetings, product launches, technical presentations, workshops on defence acquisition procedures and offsets including industry roundtable meetings.

With a 62% increase growth in flight, static and flight-cum-static display by civil and military aircraft over 2009 this time, aviation aficionados await a visual treat of fighters, helicopters and transport aircraft both from the military aerospace sector as well as from the civil aviation sector from across the world.

Significantly, with 27 aircraft belonging to the civil aviation sector, it is a 54 percent representation in relation to the military component, making Aero-India 2011 truly an all-encompassing air show. In all, over 100 aircraft would be involved at Aero-India 2011. ISRO space stall is a major attraction.