Pallam Raju to attend Farnborough airshow

NEW DELHI - Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju Friday left for Britain to attend the Farnborough airshow, one of the biggest in the aviation calendar where the who’s who of the aerospace sector will be present and over 1,300 exhibitors and more than 120,000 visitors are expected to attend.

Indian defence public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is among the 1,393 exhibitors from 40 countries participating in the biennial Farnborough International Airshow that begins Monday.

Raju is leading a three-member Indian delegation, which includes Secretary Defence Production Raj Kumar Singh and Commander-in-Chief Southern Air Command Air Marshal S. Mukerji, to the 47th Farnborough show.

Aviation selling and buying will be at the heart of the show, which in 2008 saw a record-breaking business of $88.7 billion being announced, according to a defence spokesperson here.

The show is also an ideal opportunity to showcase the latest star products and delegates from all over the world will be attending the weeklong event.

Over 170 aircraft will be displayed throughout the week and the focus, according to the spokesperson, will be on Space Zone and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) this year.

The Space Zone brings together key players from space agencies and industry to highlight the increasing role of space in a rapidly changing world.

Unmanned aircraft systems are participating in the daily flying display at the air show for the first time.

The Boeing’s 787 will be making its international debut at the show and so would be the new A400M military transport plane from Airbus, which was on show in Berlin in June this year.