Aero India 2025: Gearing up for soaring greater heights
By India Strategic Staff
Bengaluru. The bustling metropolis is preparing for yet another grand take off. Starting February 10, the city of gardens will host the 15th edition of Aero India, which has over the decades turned into the biggest aero shows in Asia.
Organised between February 10-14, the event hosted at Air Force Station, Yelahanka, under the broad theme “The Runway to a Billion Opportunities” is preparing to soar to greater heights as the country cruises on the path of “Aatma Nirbharta” in defence manufacturing sector.
The five-day event provided an excellent platform for foreign and Indian companies to come together, forge partnerships and explore new avenues in the quest to be part of the global value chain. The unmistakable accent will be to put the indigenous process on a fast lane.
The first three days, from February 10 to 12, is earmarked as business days, while the last two days would be open for the public to witness the show. The event will include both air displays and static exhibitions of a large array of military platforms from the aerospace sector.
On the eve of the grand opening, the Defence Minster Mr Rajnath Singh will hold a curtain-raiser event, hold a Conclave. The show will also feature a CEOs’ Round-Table, Manthan startup event, breath-taking airshows, a large exhibition area comprising India Pavilion and a trade fair of aerospace companies.
To facilitate dialogue towards strategic partnership with friendly countries, India will host the Defence Ministers’ Conclave on the theme ‘BRIDGE -Building Resilience through International Defence and Global Engagement’. It encapsulates the dynamic geopolitical conditions and the path to mutual prosperity, which can be covered through cooperation among nations with shared vision of security and development.
A number of bilateral meetings are planned at the levels of Defence Minister, Minister of State for Defence, Chief of Defence Staff and Secretary among others on the sidelines of the event. The focus will be on bolstering the defence and aerospace ties with friendly countries by exploring newer avenues to take the partnership to the next level.
The CEOs’ Round-Table is expected to provide a favourable platform to foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for manufacturing in India. Global CEOs, CMDs of domestic PSUs and premier private defence and aerospace manufacturing companies from India will be participating in the event.
The India Pavilion will showcase India’s commitment to its ‘Make in India’ initiative by showcasing indigenous defence manufacturing capabilities and cutting-edge technologies ready for the global stage, including the future prospects. Promotion of Indian startups is a focus area at Aero India 2025 and a wide spectrum of state-of-the-art technologies/products developed by them will be showcased at an exclusive iDEX pavilion.
In addition, dynamic aerobatic displays and live technology demonstrations will provide an immersive experience, showcasing the potential of modern aerospace platforms and technologies. A number of seminars on various important themes are also being planned as part of the event.
Aero India has already carved a niche for itself globally as a premier aerospace exhibition with 14 successful editions organised since 1996 in Bengaluru. The last edition attracted over seven lakh visitors, dignitaries from 98 countries and 809 exhibitors, including businesses, investors, startups and MSMEs.
Over 250 partnerships, including 201 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) , major announcements, product launches and technology transfers worth more than Rs. 75,000 crore, were witnessed.
This year, by the end of January 25, France emerged as one of the top exhibitors at the upcoming show and its companies are among the highest from 15 countries who have registered for it. Besides, France with 35 exhibitors, others include the United States (27 companies), Germany (22) followed by Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom and Israel.
The Bengaluru event offers an opportunity for participating of global aircraft manufacturing companies who are competing for the 114 Multi Role Fighter Aircraft contract for the Indian Air Force. The companies which responded to the RFI of April 2019 include Dassault, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SAAB, Eurofighter, and United Aircraft Corporation.
Defence Minister hosts Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Delhi
In the run-up to the Aero India, on January 10 the Defence Minister hosted in New Delhi Ambassadors and High Commissioners of various countries. “It is of paramount importance that the like-minded countries should strive together for collective actions for peace and prosperity. Without these, our future generations will not be able to take advantage of economic growth or technological innovations that we are experiencing in today’s era,” the Minister told the elite gathering.
Elaborating on the vision behind the biennial event, he stated that it has proven itself to be the meeting ground for the aerospace and defence sectors to showcase their products/technologies. He defined it as a forum to forge strategic partnerships towards increasing opportunities for business, Transfer of Technology, joint development and co-production between various industries.
The Defence Minister underscored that India today possesses one of the largest defence industrial ecosystems in Asia and the Government is committed to further enhancing the capabilities. The Indian aerospace and defence sector represents an attractive opportunity for foreign companies seeking to establish new ventures and partnerships and cited the significant milestone of setting-up of the manufacturing facility of C-295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force through collaboration between Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Airbus Defence & Space.
During the Round-Table, the invited guests of various countries were briefed on the major events of show extended a personal invitation from the Minister for their senior most leadership. Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, Defence Secretary Mr. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary (Defence Production) Mr. Sanjeev Kumar and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence as well as the Government of Karnataka attended it.
