The Hindu : Kerala News : `Aerospace industry needs policy support'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 04, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

`Aerospace industry needs policy support'

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 3. The limiting factor for aerospace industry in India was no longer the quality of technology in the country's possession, but the policy support that should necessarily come from the decision-making level, according to the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), B.N. Suresh.

Delivering the presidential address at the inauguration of a national seminar on `Aerospace Opportunities and Challenges -- Indian Scenario' at the VSSC here today, Dr. Suresh said the aerospace technology in the country had reached a stage where "we need not act as a junior partner to any other country in any of our major projects."

However, building civilian aircraft was one area that was still not fully developed in the country. The country could ill afford its dependency on other countries in this sector due to the cost involved and the job opportunities being wasted, he added.

Key factor

Inaugurating the seminar, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Air Command, Air Marshal S.Y. Savur, said aerospace technology had become, over the last 40 years, the key factor deciding supremacy of nations, not only in defence and aggression, but also in all sectors of the economy because of the wide ranging functions that communications and information technology had come to play in the life of the people.

He said the Southern Air Command was in constant dialogue with the VSSC in probing new possibilities of space technology for defence and offence.

The Vice-Chancellor of Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute in Chennai, R.M. Vasagam, who delivered the keynote address, said the Indian Space Programme that began with the launch of a sounding rocket from Thumba way back in 1963 had been a role model for the entire world to achieve the targets set for it "well within the projected cost and time estimates."

In his address, Dr. Vasagam (who had served the Indian Space Research Organisation earlier and had led many of its projects) traced the growth of aerospace technology in the country from its beginning stages to the present day. He also dealt with the key themes that had to be addressed by aerospace scientists in the next 25 years.

International consortia

According to him, "an orchestrated plan to develop and exploit the opportunities in aeronautics... may involve close to a work force of one lakh people... The need for hundreds of aircraft and helicopters for civil aviation calls for joining [an] international consortia as partners in development and commercial exploitation. The $50-billion world market for aircraft maintenance is an area worth pursuing immediately."

Top scientists and engineers from institutions in the fields of aeronautics, aerospace and aviation all over the country are participating in the seminar, which will conclude tomorrow. The seminar, organised by the Aeronautical Society of India and VSSC, is to set the stage for an interaction between Research and Development organisations, industry and educational institutions in preparing a roadmap for the growth of the sector in the coming years.

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