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Aero-India took place early February 2007 at the Yelahanka air
station near Bangalore. It was the sixth edition of this bi-annual
airshow, and, by far the largest one, due primarily to the rapid
growth of the Indian aviation market. Covering both civil and
military, as well as the entry of U.S. aerospace companies,
this became possible by opening previous government imposed
restrictions to deal with India. These sanctions have been lifted
recently, offering a huge market sofar dominated by Russian,
to European and Israeli companies. In an effort to grab the
Indian support and attention to its new hardware, Russia chose
this event for the international debut of its latest MiG-35
fighter aircraft, which was unveiled in Russia only one
month before the airshow.
According to a recent estimate published in the India Strategic
monthly magazine, India will be spending some US$35 billion
on military aviation over the next two decades. Plans include
spending well over US$13 billion on the procurement of additional
strike fighters and multi-mission aircraft, modernizing existing
aircraft, and buying new attack helicopters, transport helicopters
and transport aircraft. Fielding of a new systems, includes
network – centric communications system, acquisition of
advanced of precision attack systems, weapons, new UAVs and
pursuing space programs and more…
Another interesting feature at Yelahanka was the participation
of a large number of engineering and software industries that
were eyeing the 30 per cent offset introduced into Indian defence
procurement procedures. IT majors like Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies
and Satyam, among others were there. Moreover, several foreign
aeronautics majors would also seek partners from among these
small and medium companies.
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