Shall we say, the noise is settling down! In 2011, the fighter aircraft competition was fierce. The combat aircraft were revving up their engines; flying celebrities on their sorties and garnering all the media attention. But Dassault Aviation’s Rafale has quietened them all. The noise was limited to Rafale, the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) – Tejas and the US F16s. There were no Jaguars, Su-30MKIs, Boeing F/18.

Unlike the previous edition, Aero India 2013 was a lot more sober but solid affair. This year the focus shifted from the combat aircraft to technology and supporting industries. Every edition will have its strengths and Aero India 2013 had its.

The fact that Aero India, of which SP Guide Publications has been a key official media partner, has carved a niche for itself globally is a much sought after event, considering that the region’s defence acquisition needs are unending. The ninth edition of Aero India, held at Air Force Station in Yelahanka, near Bengaluru, over five days was truly an aerospace extravaganza. While the show continued to be dominated by defence industry, the presence of a large number of civilian aircraft manufacturers gave it a twist. There were almost 50 of the total 627 exhibitors, including 352 from overseas.

In fact during the inaugural ceremony, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Ajit Singh seized the opportunity of informing that the Indian civil aviation market would be among the top three fastest growing markets in the next couple of years, registering a growth rate of 15 per cent a year. He talked about foreign direct investment (FDI) in airlines; policies to encourage regional airliners; hinterland connectivity; exponential passenger and cargo movement, all of which would propel the sector to a thriving one in the coming years. Boeing’s Senior Vice President of Asia-Pacific and India Sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Dinesh Keskar said that while traffic is dropping due to reduced capacity, yields are improving and fuel prices are stabilising in the market. “These are all positive signs for the airlines in India.”

There were many general aviation and civil aviation aircraft and products and solutions on show and they included business jets from Dassault Aviation; Gulfstream and Bombardier Aerospace.

In contrast to the Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh’s speech, the Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s speech was muted as he reiterated the enormous opportunities defence acquisition and offsets would throw up for both Indian and international players.

Aero India 2013 was indicative of the growth of small and medium enterprises which were getting busy in the light of liberalisation, offset opportunities, etc. The realisation that indigenisation of the aerospace industry will not happen overnight, but through continuous networking of the industry, both within and without, is a good sign and companies are taking appropriate steps.

The takeaway from Aero India 2013 has been that Indian defence entrepreneurship has to find its ground and it jolly well be soon. For that to happen, ecosystems need to be created by the government and the industry and the government in right earnest has begun doing so. Taking a cue from the opportunities, Karnataka Government announced a new aerospace policy in its bid to create an aerospace hub in the region. It is in the process of creating an aerospace special economic zone (SEZ) which will have spin-offs that would do well for the sector as well as the economy.

Coming back to Aero India 2013, almost all the overseas exhibitors—whether it was the giants, Boeing and Airbus, or small and medium enterprises— were all keen on tying up with Indian partners. The US had the largest number of exhibitors after India. With US military sales to India touching close to $12 billion, several top US defence companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins, Textron, Gulfstream, General Electric, Honeywell and a host of others were displaying their products and solutions for the Indian market. Endorsing their presence was the US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell who eulogised the growing relationship between the two countries. Delegations from the UK, Israel, France and Russia were not far behind.

Some of the highlights were the model of the Indo-Russian fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA); the giant US C-17 heavy transport aircraft which did sorties daily; the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) handing-over of Rudra, the weaponised version of the indigenous Dhruv advanced light helicopter to the Indian Army; BrahMos Aerospace unveiling a scale-model of the hypersonic BrahMos-2 multi-role cruise missile and full-scale model of the launch pylon for air-launched BrahMos-1, etc.

Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter displayed a broad selection of cutting-edge products, technologies and solutions and they included a mock-up of the MRTT from Airbus Military; sitcom terminal and telecommunications satellites from Astrium; UAVs, sensors, defence electronics and avionics systems from Cassidian; a range of helicopters including a Naval Panther from Eurocopter and a mock-up of ATR 72-600.

Embraer promoted its full portfolio of Commercial Aviation, Executive Aviation and Defence and Security and they included the leading family of commercial jets up to 120 seats in the global market (E170, E175, E190 and E195), the most modern and complete product line of business jets, from the entry-level Phenom 100 to the ultra-large Lineage 1000, and a broad range of integrated solutions for defence and security that combine a high technological level and operational efficiency at competitive acquisition and operating costs. Three of the Embraer Executive Jets were on static display: the entry-level Phenom 100, the long-range Legacy 650 and the ultra-large Lineage 1000.

Another highpoint of the air show was the international seminar on aerospace products – challenges in design to development, organised by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). “Growth in aerospace cannot be limited to collaboration in manufacturing and has to be in all aspects – design, product and development,” Dr V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, said at the seminar.

Saraswat appealed to the industries to promote design, manufacture and infrastructure for development of aerospace. For this collaborations are needed including partnership with government agencies like DRDO, he said.

While Russian technologies were on display, it was the Russian Knights who stole the show with their aerobatics. They added pep to the flying display with flares going up at the end. With India’s aerobatic team Surya Kirans grounded, it was for the Russian Knights and the crowd favourite Flying Bulls from the Czech Republic to enthral the sea of humanity at the Air Force Station.