SHOW DAILY
21
DAY
INDIA 2017
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DEFENCE n DIPLOMACY n SECURITY WEDNESDAY 15, FEBRUARY 2017
AERO INDIA 2017: OLD WHINE IN NEW BATTLE
The recycling machinery is doing a great job at Aero India 2017, even as the Narendra Modi government had nothing new to announce this air show that began in Bengaluru's Yelahanka air base on Tuesday
A
ll that is the talk of the mini-town teaming with several thousands of business visitors on day one is about the combat planes race that has returned to the sub-continent following India’s decision in 2015 to curtain the 126 MMRCA programme. At this year's flying display too, the tough fight is among the F-16 from the Lockheed Martin stable and the Rafale, 36 of which was bought by India in 2016 from France's Dassault. The competitor to F-16 in the single-engine fighter race in India is from Swedish Saab's Gripen E. The opening ceremony had Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar taking the stage along with India's Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. Unfortunately, this time around, Parrikar had nothing to announce in terms of policy reforms or programmes to boost defence manufacturing in India. Last year, at the DefExpo in Goa, Parrikar had released
the new Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) that government India's defence acquisition. But a critical chapter in the DPP-2016 is still missing on the much-awaited Strategic Partners policy. There was not even talk of when this policy could be released at the show, as yet. The strategic partners policy is critical for a couple of major defence projects to take off, including the new single-engine fighter jets programme of the Indian Air Force and the Naval Utility Helicopters programme that could be worth $2 billion. This year around, as in the last edition, the US Pavilion turned out to be the largest, with Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Atomics and many others taking up half of one of the hangers that double up as halls for scale-model displays. There are in all 549 companies, of which 274 are foreign, said Defence Production Secretary Ashok Kumar Gupta. Karnataka, which is hosting the air show in col-
laboration with the Ministry of Defence, sent its minister R V Deshpande instead of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who got busy with the legislative business in the State Assembly. The air show this time has foreign presence in the form of United Kingdom's Minister of Defence Procurement Harriett Balwin, who was at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's stall during the day to unveil the advanced Hawki jet trainers from the BAE Systems stable. HAL is producing the aircraft in India, as part of its production line that builds the trainer jets for the Air Force and the Navy. So was the Swedish State Secretary of Defence Jan Salestrand, who had meetings with both India's Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on day one and will have another meeting with the Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa on day two. A meeting with Parrikar for both the dignitaries is unlikely this time, according to information available at the
time of going to the press. But the buzz at the air show was created by Parrikar himself. At his customary press conference at the show, he announced that India will need both single engine and twin engine fighters and the number India is looking at now is about 400 aircraft. This announcement, an open admission of the criticality of the 'Make in India' combat planes project, set the mood on fire at the air show. But these are only semantics. The actual cheer for both the Indian and foreign combat planes manufacturers will come when India finally decides on which companies will be the foreign collaborator with an Indian Strategic Partner in the project, which now gets viable if there are at least 200 single-engine aircraft out of the 400 needed by the IAF. The other talking point at the show on the first day was the Indian Navy Request for Information for 57 carrierborne aircraft that was out in January 2017. The Light Com-
INSIDE: Thales, Bharat Dynamics to explore STARStreak tech transfer:Pg 3 ď ˇ
bat Aircraft's naval version, Parrikar said, would still be supported financially by the Indian Navy to get it to operational state. But there will be no series production of the plane, unlike the air force's version of the Tejas aircraft. This naval combat plane race could see Boeing, Dassault Aviation and Saab pitching their F/A-18, Rafale M and the Gripen Maritime aircraft and all these companies were up beat over the programme. But it is still too early, as several RFIs of Indian armed forces have never matured really into tenders. And this is the second time that the navy has issued the RFI for carrierborne aircraft in the last five years. So, the first day of Aero India 2017 is actually a repeat of the 2009 air show at the same venue when the 126 MMRCA race was in progress. But this time, the mood is sombre, considering that the 2007 tender for the MMRCA had crashed after eight years of selection process, burned and turned into ash.
Showtime @ Yelahanka:Pg 30