India At The Singapore Air Show

The Singapore Air Show earlier this month had an Indian pavilion that was stuffed with these clunky Tejas models and little else. Not quite sure why the government bothers to book space and go to the effort at all if this is all it can really come up with. Embarrassing. I have friends who went round to see. Livefist reader Pradeep Yamujala was kind enough to send me these photographs he took while he was at the show.
Photos Courtesy Pradeep Viswamitra Yamujala

30 thoughts on “India At The Singapore Air Show”

  1. During my stay at the air show, i met a person from french pavilion and asked about absence of Rafele. He said since singapore government did not choosed rafele as their air craft, they are not bringing that to the air show.

    After that i went to SAAB pavilion and asked about Gripin and he said due to logistical problem they didn't bring that air craft.

  2. Embarrassing is too mild a word for such incompetent and idiotic exercise to send models when the very same products are yet to be inducted into the Indian Armed Forces. Why bother to send a Tejas model? Can't the decision makers at ADA, DRDO and the MOD at least send one of those aircrafts that has cleared the IOC? Why did they forget to send in models of Arjun, Druv, LCH and the wax figurines of St. Anthony and MMS. They too would become world renowned collectors items.

  3. Dear Shiv,
    Singapore plans to buy 21 combat aircraft for its air force. The LCA is also being considered for this contract.

    Sumit Agrawal

  4. @the terminator
    This is an airshow, so can't send Arjun models. Unless the users are from 'The A Team', they can't fly a tank. Bad that people are spoiled by movies.

  5. Shiv, not sure why you cry over "clunky" models. We are in no way able to sent the real aircraft as so much testing is going on. Sending it over would have delayed the program by another few months with associated planning and destuffing of contents. Also the models looks pretty good for a show that too for Singapore. Give the govt a couple more years and may be we will have the real aircraft showing some stunts. Go easy on Ada/Hal please. You got to see the cost to benefit before we slam them.

  6. Dear Shiv,
    Defexpo-2012 is coming up at Delhi.Do inform the DRDO,MOD and Def-Pro to put guys who know their stuff, are somewhat articulate at their stands.The guys one interacted with,barring some appeared so vague that one wondered whether it was due to 'secrecy' or their being forced to be on the stand!! In this age of the internet,everybody attending such events is aware of quite a bit. Operational stuff,actual performance and core,sensitive specifications need not be told.What is required are professional replies telling the essence without revealing the real deal.The yanks were very good at that.
    Is there hope for a Arjun MK2 display at Defexpo?

  7. The Models look alright.

    What was missing though was the Dhruv. Dhruv is now an international export product (challenges faced not withstanding). This product should be taken forward to all such avenues to generate more eyeballs and procure sales – heads up HAL. The models of LCH should also naturally have been there. Perhaps even the Nishanth (not exactly a world beater but something to showcase neverthless)

  8. No doubt soon plenty of our babu worshipers will be booking tickets to Singapore to do puja those idols of DRDO's incompetence(Everything presented there is something that has been delayed/still under trial by our armed forces).

  9. hey i totally agree with u that the Indian pavelion have absolutely no one who has any idea about their products!! trust me i'm speaking from my personal experience from the airshows in banglore! most probably some IT guys who'r just there to read the headlines form the brochore! i'm not saying there are experts in the other stalls but they atleast know some basic information about their exhibits! also i personally dont think these pictures give a poor image of the Indian pavelion. although they could definately have brought the dhruv or perhaps the sarang team. i'm pretty sure the reason why Tejas or IJT dont go to these events is coz of the tough time they have with the trials, tooling, maintence and the like.

  10. LOL. The products which are already in service or which are bound to enter market within 2 years are displayed in these shows, and not demonstrators like Tejas which have no confirmed induction time till 2020.

  11. Shiv,
    Thursday night @ 8:40 PM I saw you @ Headlines Today covering Saif Ali Khan’s assault case. From defense world why are you moving to Completely Fake World ???

    Regards,
    S. Karim

  12. DRDO does excellent sales pitch for all conceptwares. They are very good with drawing board design, art work, plastic model, wind tunnel models……anything but the actual product.

  13. Shiv, I'm asking you for the third time now. Please e-mail me if you don't want to reply here. Why have my comments in the Aura UCAV post and the 'What's the hold up?' post below this one not been posted?

  14. well if everybody is so pissed of with our own LCA and feeling so embarrased and always demeaning,derogating it..then as a responsible indian what do you are doing to change that?(except giving gali and writing comments)…huh????by giving comments only you will actually demeaning yourself and making india and yourself a laughing stock for all other country….

    if U HAVE THAT MUCH BRAIN INSIDE U R HEAD THEN TRY TO JOIN DRDO/ADA/CEMILAC LIKE ME AND COME AND WORK 4 U R OWN COUNTRY,,bloody netizens

  15. In the same indian pavilion, along with the tejas models also i have seen a working model of MFDs, Avionics, computers.

    In one way I am happy what they have done. Instead of actual aircraft they kept scaled down model and real avionics and computers.

    They also know that, without FOC from IAF, there is no point to show the actual jet to public and take it to another country. They showed what ever they thought ready.

  16. timeframe seems Tejasmk1 in 2015and mk2in 2025 will they ever fly lsp6,7,8 nlca really exhausted waiting and also shiv why central pylon not used even in models too lca really proving crap fighter

  17. ha ha ha toy tajas MADE BY ADA MADE FOR IAF, iarmy condition is very good with arjun tank only 124 then after + ,why IAF stand with LOOSE COMBAT(COMAN)AIRCRAFT,CHIKI PAKI PREPARE for block 2,3 jf17 but ADA HAL where do exercise for angel of attack,airoimprovement,scrape LCA & reopen maruti a/c with new engine.

  18. The Tejas looks great ! It must be pitched to the Air Chiefs of all the countries who visit the show.

    Tejas can be marketed as a low-cost alternative to used F-16s and Gripens. It even provides more bang for the buck than the much touted JF-17.

    This is a very good opportunity for India to market the Tejas abroad. Can't wait to see it taking part in air-shows !

  19. Are my eyes deceiving me or does that Tejas model look significantly different? Especially the canopy it looks quite different from earlier models, is this model of Tejas Mk2?

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