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Aero India 2013: Judges may miss escort vehicles

The problem has especially appeared as Aero India 2013 is coinciding with the budget session, which is scheduled to begin from Monday.

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The five-day Aero India 2013, starting from February 6, may see escort vehicles of some judges withdrawn temporarily so that they can be used for VVIP secuirty, due to shortage of 30 vehicles. The police have foreseen the shortage and are planning to request the judges to allow withdrawal of their escort vehicles so that these could be pressed into VVIP service at India’s prime civil and military aviation event.

The problem has especially appeared as Aero India 2013 is coinciding with the budget session, which is scheduled to begin from Monday. Hundreds of cars are allotted for the session to cater to the transport needs of ministers, MLAs and MLCs.

The air show, too, will see a range of VVIPs, including the defence minister AK Antony, chief of air staff NAK Browne and several top military and government officials apart from ministers and deputy ministers from other countries.

Sources in the police department said that with the shortage at hand, there appears to be no other option but to withdraw cars allotted to judges, the intelligence and the Crime Investigation Department (CID). “However, we will not withdraw policemen deployed for the security of the judges. A gunman will remain as security for each judge, and he will be travelling in the same vehicle as the judge,” a senior police official told DNA.

Generally, judge’s gunmen travel in an escort vehicle. “The escort vehicles allotted for the judges will be withdrawn only after consulting them. We will request them to co-operate as there is no other way. After the airshow is over on February 10, the vehicles would be returned to them,” the official said.

Shortage of drivers
Not just the vehicles, the police department is also falling short of 10 drivers. Now the police are trying to identify additional drivers deployed for other duties and press them into the service of chauffeuring VVIPs. “We have identified three drivers already, and by tomorrow, the rest will be identified,” said the official.

Transport is a significant component of the air show as it is a high-security event.
Efficient transport is crucial part of Aero India 2013, considering that it is held at Air Force Station Yelahanka, which is 17 kilometres from Bangalore. Some conferences are also held at Nimhans’ convention centre on February 5—a day ahead of the main event begins—and several foreign delegates are expected to participate in it.

Apart from ferrying delegates, ministers and senior Indian and foreign defence officials to and from the venue, the drivers will also be responsible in ensuring that they are dropped and picked up from various five-star hotels where they will be accommodated during their stay in Bangalore.
 

HAL gets clearance for ‘Rudra’
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has got the initial operational clearance (IOC) for ‘Rudra’, the Mk-IV Army version of its Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).
K Tamilmani, CEO,  Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), presented the certificate to HAL at a function here on Sunday.

The occasion marks the entry of HAL into the elite group of a few industries in the world which design, develop, manufacture and certify a helicopter as weapons system to international standards.

Speaking on the occasion, Tamilmani pointed out that the demand for helicopters in India was huge, and that the country has the ability to meet technical challenges on this front.
P Soundara Rajan, MD, HAL’s Helicopter Division, pointed out that integration of multiple weapons systems simultaneously on the helicopter was a complex assignment.

“In this particular case, it involved four major groups of systems and weapons, involving eight countries: Israel, France, Belgium, South Africa, Germany, Italy, USA  and India. Nearly 23 km of cables had to be laid and hundreds of hours of flight and ground tests were carried out”, he said. Two Rudra choppers will be handed over to the Indian Army during the Aero India 2013.

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