By IANS,
New Delhi : Eyeing new business opportunities in defence to be provided by the Berlin Air Show, Defence Minister A.K. Antony Sunday embarks on a three day visit to Germany.
The Berlin Air Show, the oldest air show in the world dating back to 1909, begins May 27. India is participating as a partner country in the defence sector for the first time.
“Antony will leave for Germany on Sunday and will be accompanied by a high-level official delegation,” an official said.
The delegation includes Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Secretary Defence Production Pradeep Kumar, Director General Acquisition S.K. Sharma and Adviser to Defence Minister Sundaram Krishna.
Antony would accompany German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she opens the air show on May 27.
Indicative of the importance being attached to India, a seminar on ‘Opportunities in the Indian Defence Sector’ will be held May 28. The SARANG team of the Indian Air Force, comprising three Dhruv advanced light helicopters, will give a display of aerobatics.
“Antony will go there with a message that a strong industrial base, sophisticated research and development institutions and a huge domestic market have resulted in a fast growing aviation sector in India.
“This provides new opportunities for cooperation and strategic alliances between domestic and international partners,” the official said.
Antony will try to woo international players by putting across the message that new policies to transform the Indian defence sector by actively encouraging all players – whether private or public, Indian or foreign – to play a larger role in defence production through mutually beneficial partnerships, private investment and technology transfers have been put in place.
The air show is an ideal platform for exploring business opportunities and joint ventures. A large number of Indian companies – both public and private and defence organisations – will showcase their defence related capabilities and products at the Show.
The composite India Pavilion will see the participation of five Defence Public Sector Undertakings – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI). The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will also be participating.
Besides, there will be five private defence industries – the Tata group of companies, Larsen & Toubro, CADES, ACCORD Software & Systems and Saraswati Dynamics.