There have been several initiatives by the business aviation community to contain pollution. The specific targets set for themselves—achieving carbon-neutral growth by 2020 and improving fuel efficiency by 2 per cent every year—are highly commendable.

Global warming, as we all are aware, is staring in our face. While there have been several initiatives by various industry sectors to contain the effects of pollution, more needs to be done, irrespective of who is causing it. And the business aviation community has shown this stewardship, though business jets are contributing less than 2 per cent of the total aviation emissions. The specific targets—achieving carbon-neutral growth by 2020 and improving fuel efficiency by 2 per cent every year until 2020—they have set for themselves, are highly commendable.

In this issue of SP’s Aviation, we are looking at the issue of business aviation and environment and also the concerted efforts made by the major OEMs and the industry as a whole. From the response of these players, we can surmise that substantial investments are being made in R&D and this augurs well for not just the business jet industry but for everyone else. The cover story by A.K. Sachdev has touched upon the relevant issues on the same.

Moving away from business jets to regional aviation, we find that India will have around 500 airports, if all goes well. Certainly such infrastructural developments will require a comprehensive regional airline policy as the 2007 policy failed on several counts. We read reports that many entrepreneurs are getting into aviation business, including wanting to start regional airlines. Several state governments have experienced mixed success in roping in private players for many of the smaller airports. If there has to be connect between the airports and the airline operators, we need to get started on infrastructural works forthwith. The coverage by Joseph Noronha deliberates on these issues.

On the military front, we have a case for rationalisation of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). A report by KPMG consultants and CII has revealed that only 15 per cent of India’s defence equipment is state-of-the-art and at least half of the defence equipment is obsolete. And we are talking of “fire power”. If we need to equip our military with the best, it is believed that direct government to government or foreign military sales (FMS) are safe routes. So in this issue, we have a healthy debate on FMS vs Open Tender.

Continuing with military aviation, an article by Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia on C4ISR highlights how the Indian Air Force is in tune with such developments.

From the OEM perspective, we have Raytheon giving insights into their key capabilities including homeland security solutions, while Wallop indicates the advantages of combustible ordnance and countermeasure products.

We round off the issue with Last Word by Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey, on the “bureaucratic jumble” on the proposal for a second international airport for Mumbai at Navi Mumbai. It is over three years since the government gave approval for a Greenfield airport project and nothing much has happened. We are only hearing about the tussle between the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

While it is our endeavour to provide exhaustive coverage on issues that matter in both military and civil aviation, we as usual look forward to your feedback.