Air Marshal RK Sharma PVSM AVSM VM ADC, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force, said that Indian Air Force is seeking response from Indian industry to manufacture planes including Avro, P-7 Trainer Aircraft, Weapon Systems, Electronic Warfare Systems and Rotor blades.

He was speaking in the 9th International Conference on Energizing Indian Aerospace Industry jointly organised by CII, Indian Air Force and Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS).

He further said that Indian Air Force is a stake holder in vibrant and thriving aerospace sector and is committed to its growth. Sustained demand from the Indian Air Force and industry friendly policies are the two important drivers to make Indian aerospace industry a success story. He also emphasised on Public Private Partnership, Joint Venture formation and better mechanisms to absorb technology. 

Dr RK Tyagi, Chairman, CII National Committee on Aerospace & Chairman, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has suggested the formation of an Indian Aeronautics Commission and bring various organisations and institutes currently functioning under different Ministries under one umbrella. "This will ensure greater cohesion, synergy, understanding and speeding-up decision making in defence related activities," he said.

He also said that it is important to exploit FDI and Joint Venture opportunities for development of indigenous industry in India's defence and aerospace sector.  "Also, our industry must have greater say in selecting technologies for future platform developments and our offset focus should  be on acquisition of cutting edge technology", he added.

Air Marshal Vinod Patney SYSM PVSM AVSM VrC (Retd), Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies said that India is the largest importer of defence equipment. To reverse this trend, Government of India has taken several initiatives to ensure a win-win situation for all the stakeholders.

Satish K Kaura, member, CII National Committee on Aerospace and Chairman Samtel Group said that self-reliance is a challenging task. As a nation, we need to have access to aerospace technologies, innovation and the ability to train manpower in aerospace industry. Therefore, co-development and co-production should be the preferred route. Recent joint venture between Indian and foreign companies are some of the indications towards that direction.

Sujith Haridas, DDG, CII said that CII remains committed to facilitate creation of a vibrant domestic aerospace industrial base in the country. CII has already taken proactive step to involve all the stakeholders. More initiatives to create better synergy between Public and Private sectors are in the pipeline.
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