Airshow attracts seriously defensive relationships
MIKE HEDGE
13/03/2009 9:17:00 AM
It is rather like a dating service for the world's aviation and aerospace industries.
A place where suitors with smart, new aeroplanes and sleek missiles seek serious relationships with well-heeled buyers.
It is also a spectacle that, by the time it finishes on Sunday night, will have attracted around 200,000 aficionados and fanatics who shared their passion with a collection of the world's top military brass and senior government officials from a dozen nations.
The Australian International Airshow is one of the world's largest and most important aviation and aerospace forums, ranking alongside similar events in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
At the best of times, such events can seem over the top.
As the global credit crunch devours economies, they might appear to be even more of a display of excess.
The thing about airshows is that those in the market for the latest military hardware or passenger jets don't go there to shop.
No-one wanders among the exhibits waving a cheque book and snapping up new strike fighters or the latest in unmanned surveillance aircraft.
If they did, it would be highly irresponsible, said the event's organiser and Aerospace Australia chief executive Ian Honnery.
"Airshows are networking forums.
"Every industry needs its showcase, somewhere to put its achievements and products on show," he said.
"They are places where ideas are exchanged and relationships and contacts are maintained.
Mr Honnery also promotes the courtship analogy.
What happens here is a bit like conception, he said.
The celebration comes later - deals take years to be done.
The ninth Australian International Airshow got underway at Avalon, south of Melbourne this week with around 600 exhibitors, including the United States Air Force and Army, their Australian equivalents, the air forces of Canada and Singapore and most of the western world's aircraft makers and suppliers all trying to find someone they can be happy with.
They have brought with them a collection of military hardware that a small nation might covet, and seemingly every spare part and accessory they might ever require.
On display are the world's largest passenger plane, the largest military aircraft, radar systems, aero engines, communications systems, gadgets and toys.
And there are lawyers to help in the doing of the deals which the sellers hope will be consummated in a more private place.
Airshows like the one at Avalon allow some of the world's largest corporations to show off their smartest technology and they fascinate a surprising number of plane spotters and propeller heads.
Australia's Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Mark Binskin sees the show as a perfect forum in which the RAAF - the world's best small air force - to present itself to industry and the public.
This airshow and exposition are major opportunities for the Australian Defence Force to engage the defence industry, meet senior military counterparts from across the world and to demonstrate our air power capability to the public, Air Marshal Binskin said.
For Australia's defence chiefs the airshow is also the catalyst for the Chief of Air Force symposium which brings together senior military and government figures from major regional nations.
Also on display will be the RAAF's controversial interim fighter plane, the F/A-18F Super Hornet which enters service next year.
Another more nostalgic aspect of the show for the RAAF will be the symbolic farewell after 35 years of service to its F-111 fleet and to the ageing Caribou transport aircraft.
If there is one obvious omission from the airshow it is thrift and austerity.
The United States government's displays and delegations occupy half a pavilion.
Beside the runways are gleaming executive jets, monstrous, camouflaged military secrets and the very latest in nifty helicopters.
Event organiser Mr Honnery said the 600 exhibitors represent only a six per cent drop on the 2007 show.
The number of aircraft is greater than ever with more than 400 on display and in action.
These are certainly challenging times, he said.
But this airshow has become so significant that every major country has come here to do business.
It is an essential event.
For the smaller Australian players - from the Sydney-based firm that makes the wing tips for the giant A-380 Airbus to the suppliers of uniforms and flight suits - the airshow is an opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities.
These companies represent the core of Australian technical capabilities and this event allows them to meet the people they supply, Mr Honnery said.
It's important that a small, technically-advanced country like Australia reminds the world that it is a player.
And the chances of finding the right partner are apparently better at an airshow than in the personal columns of a newspaper.
http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/national/national/general/airshow-attracts-seriously-defensive-relationships/1458471.aspx?storypage=0
