The newly forged partnership between the French aerospace major Dassault Aviation and the European conglomerate Airbus is indeed a historic event for the global aerospace industry as these two major players in the European aerospace industry, who traditionally were arch rivals, have now opted to join hands. This will definitely strengthen the European aerospace industry which will now be in a position to pose a challenge to that of the United States (US).

On the civil aviation scene, Arpita Kala of SP’s Aviation, looks at the future. All indications are that unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as Drones, are set to enter this domain in a big way and influence our lives significantly. As per Kanika Tekriwal, founder, JetSetGo, “The whole world will move towards flying devices because there will not be space for us to drive or park cars.” However, successful employment of Drones in civil society will require formulation of regulatory provisions and their implementation to ensure safe integration with other manned air traffic, drafting of standard operating procedures and large scale training. In an interview by Arpita Kala with Dewang Gala, Co-founder of Pigeon Innovative Solutions, a Drone Survey and Aerial Photography Company, the latter delves on the various issues related to employment of Drones by the civil society, figures in this issue of the magazine.

Past month saw the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva. The convention strived to get the aviation industry to go green by encouraging the use of Sustainable Alternative Jet Fuels (SAJF). Their use also allows operators and others in industry to achieve corporate social responsibility goals, and demonstrate the industry’s commitment to address climate change. A detailed report on EBACE 2018 has been included in this issue.

On the Indian military aviation scene, the focus is now on the selection of a carrier borne fighter aircraft for the new indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant that is currently under construction at Cochin Shipyard Limited and is expected to be delivered to the Indian Navy by late 2020. A report by Air Marshal BK Pandey (Retd) on the carrier borne aircraft available in the global market has been included in this issue. Options before the Indian Navy appear to be limited and the final choice may be influenced by the cost factor. This acquisition of a combat platform by the Indian Navy will be followed by a much larger one by the Indian Air Force.

The Indian aerospace industry appears to have set the ball rolling to get the project for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), a fifth-generation combat aircraft with stealth features to be designed, developed and built by the indigenous aerospace industry. For the first time, the private sector of the Indian aerospace industry has been invited to participate. Also, for this project, a new facility will be set up from scratch in Sulur near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, the first time development of a combat aircraft is being undertaken outside Bengaluru. The IAF will wait anxiously for the successful execution of this project to be able to foray into the fifth generation.

All this and much more in this issue of SP’s Aviation. Welcome aboard and wish you happy landings!

Jai Hind!