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Our Bureau

Bangalore , Feb. 8

AERO India 2005, the country's biggest and one of Asia's best international air extravaganzas, opens here on Wednesday with dozens of foreign, domestic and military aircraft set to sizzle the skies. The show has grown 30 per cent since 2003, with much larger international and domestic participation.

The fifth biennial expo since 1996 will be on from February 9 to 13 and has clearly put itself in the league of Singapore and Dubai air shows, according to senior Defence Ministry officials. The Defence Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has been in the city since Monday to inaugurate the seminar and the expo.

The show opens amidst the Defence Ministry's increasing focus on exports to friendly countries and a target of $130 million for the current year, they told Business Line. Last year's exports were $93 million. HAL's advanced light helicopter Dhruv will be one of the main export candidates.

The show at Air Force Station Yelahanka will have 60 domestic and 20 foreign aircraft in flying or static display. As many as 226 foreign and 148 Indian companies, among them private, public and military majors, have set up stalls at the venue just 20 km outside the city.

They would be showcasing their capabilities in design, development and production of aircraft and ground systems and also scouting for buyers and sellers for their wares, Mr Shekhar Dutt, Secretary, Department of Defence Production, said on the eve of the event.

As many as 35 foreign delegations, including air chiefs and ministers, and a team from China, would be there. There were 24 of them two years ago. The fully booked expo space covers 20,000 sq m including 18,200 sq m of indoor space.

Some of the machines started flying in last week. If the Russian-made Sukhoi fighters were the rage at the last two air shows here, two F-15E Strike Eagles will be the first US combat planes (of the 1990 Gulf War fame) to excite the Indian skies this year.

In fact, US entries at the show have steadily climbed from a mere two in 2001 to 10 during 2003 and doubled this time. The US Army will be showing off Orion P3, C-130J and KC-135.

BAe Systems' Hawk advanced jet trainer, 24 of which the IAF is acquiring directly, will grace the flying displays. The Air Chief Marshal, Mr S.P. Tyagi, flew it in the morning.

The Russian MiG-29 M-2, Bell Helicopter's Bell 407, Dassault Aviation's Falcon 2000 will be on show.

The IAF will be in top gear with 50 flying displays by its Sukhois. Among the Indian might will be the intermediate jet trainer that HAL is developing; the Dornier, advanced light helicopter, Chetak; besides NAL's Hansa and Saras.

Last time's air show fetched a revenue of 15 crore with a spend of Rs 8 crore. The Defence Ministry, which is organising the event, has invested Rs 35 crore to expand and spruce up AFSY, which is mainly a training centre.

It now has a much bigger hangar, a runway extended to FAA 40-compliant 7,600 ft and two smart conference halls.

By the next show, the runway would be increased to 9,000 ft to accommodate large aircraft. The dispersal area has substantially been increased for easy manoeuvring of the machines and the venue would be a very compact one by the next air show due in 2007, the AFSY Chief, Air Commodore S.P. Singh, said.

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