Aero India 2005 and IAF Operations

 Last update : 05 / 15 / 2005 (concluded)

They call it more of a business meet than an Airshow to dazzle the public. 'Aero India', India's biennial international Airshow, held at Yelahanka Air Force Station (AFS), near the city of Bangalore, may as well have been exactly that, justified through certain observations. Firstly, there seems to be some precedence given towards products and aircraft of strategic relevance - those vying for contracts to satisfy IAF requirements. Secondly, the display seems to have always been kept limited on purpose. If there is something new, it is mostly a replacement and not an addition. The result was the elimination of aircraft types such as the HAL 748 'Hack', Mi-35, the Heron UAV, the LCA 'Tejas' (from the static display) and even the entire 'Mirage Aerobatic Team', all of which would have no doubt, made the show richer with their added presence. This may also be explained to an extent through noting that the IAF/IA/IN aircraft involved are actually pulled directly out of operational duty and pressing training demands could effectively preclude their participation. As a common practice, about half of the aircraft on static display, those specifically taking part in flight displays, were cut off from direct public view. A good number of aircraft which were a part of the flying display, also took off from their own bases and flew over the viewing area, without being a part of the static display. One may have assumed in 2003, that the next show was going to be 'massive' but the truth is that the 2005 show wasn't really that much bigger than the last, barring two new hangars for additional exhibition space.

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All said and done, Aero India is still a fantastic exposition by any standards and in regional terms, does top the scale. Sure, as the fifth Aero India,  it could have been bigger and better in terms of the number of aircraft displayed but many improvements made in other fields do help in eliminating any dissatisfaction. The main factor to consider is that show takes place within an operational, major airbase. This allows for the observation of actual IAF operations and aircraft, first hand. Aero India is and always has been, an India-centric event where Indian Defence products and Indian aircraft dominate. This is a good thing since the Indian armed forces and Defence establishments don't reveal much to the public otherwise, especially in terms of equipment and armament under R&D. Select foreign air forces and companies do constitute a large percentage of the participation. This time, the USA brought no less than six major aircraft types and a major delegation.     

Air activity at the base was intense, with IAF helicopter and transport operations being conducted at regular intervals in the morning and evening. However, the author was only able to 'capture' 01 Transport out of every 4 spotted/observed and 01 helicopter out of every 2 spotted. This translates to actual success rates of just 25% and 50% respectively. When the event was covered in 2003, we covered very little relating to aircraft and absolutely nothing from the flying display. To make up for that ridiculous shortcoming, this report will mostly cover the latter and comparatively little from indoor exhibits. While the scale may have been unchanged, each Aero India does have it's own 'unique' features, thanks to specific aircraft and equipment that show up only once, each time, resulting in a different type of experience, each time.