Industrial Automation Magazine India

Aero India 2021 exhibition opens today at Bengaluru

Published on : Wednesday 03-02-2021

Defence minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the three-day event, which will run from February 3 to 5.

Bengaluru, February 3, 2021 – India’s premier biannual aerospace and defence exhibition, Aero India 2021, is set to take off today at the Air Force Station Yelahanka. The 13th edition of this premier international event will witness several aircraft of the Air Force, Army and Navy, as also from the Coast Guard. Besides, there will be a large presence of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL). Defence minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the three-day event, which will run from February 3 to 5. According to organisers, 41 aircraft including Dakota, Su30 MKI would participate in the flight display on an inaugural day while there would be 63 aircraft on static display.

This edition of Aero India is planned as a hybrid show with delegates present either physically or virtually. The organisers have indigenously developed a virtual exhibition platform on a hybrid model as only 3,000 visitors will be allowed at the flight display venue each day. Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, visitors will also have to take an RT-PCR test 72 hours prior to the event and only those with a Covid-19 negative test report will be allowed entry.

A unique flying display of HAL titled ‘Aatmanirbhar Formation Flight’ will comprise of HAL products such as LCA trainer (LIFT Trainer), HTT-40, IJT, Advanced Hawk Mk 132 and Civil Do-228 that will fly in a special formation. HTT-40, Advanced Hawk Mk 132 and civil Do-228 will be available for customer demonstration flights. Sukhoi 30 MKI, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) will also take part in the flying display. The static display will include Do 228, Hindustan Turbo Trainer (HTT)-40 and LUH and ALH Mk III.

HAL’s HALL-E will be the major attraction of the event and will have the Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) simulator with Tejas-Max cockpit as the mother-ship platform.

An American B-1B Lancer heavy bomber will perform a fly-by at the Aero India 2021. The bomber has as many as 50 world records for speed, payload, range, and time of climb in its class. US participation in Aero India 2021 can be seen as a deepening of ties between Washington and New Delhi. “US participation in Aero India 2021 reflects our increasingly close bilateral defence ties and our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” read a statement released by the US consulate.