BENGALURU: While Aero India 2025 is hosting a range of aircraft from different countries, and the Indian Air Force is bedazzling spectators on the ground at Yelahanka Air Force Station, with breathtaking aerial displays, the Naval Air Arm is offering a rare peek into its air power that supports the Indian Navy in protecting the country’s vast coastline and beyond.
The Naval Air Arm is the aviation branch and a combat arm of the Indian Navy, tasked with providing aircraft carrier-based strike capability, fleet air defence, maritime reconnaissance, and anti-submarine warfare. The blue-water Indian Navy operates significantly in the Persian Gulf Region, the Horn of Africa, the Strait of Malacca, and routinely conducts anti-piracy operations and partners with other navies, along with joint exercises, ably supported by its fleet of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
Accordingly, at Aero India, the Navy has put on static display, a considerable chunk of its aircraft. The Kamov KM-31, a Russian-origin all-weather, day-night, deck operation-capable helicopter, is known for its contra rotating-blades with no tail rotor.
Its primary role involves air early warning, and fleet air defence of the Navy’s fleet at sea. Another all-weather helicopter, with multi-role functions, including anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, is the Sea King 42B, sharing space with the newer US-origin MH-60 R Seahawk, a helicopter carrying out a variety of operations at sea.
It is equipped with “... multi-spectral targeting system, multi-mode radar, integrated self-defence (chaff and flares)... for air superiority, fleet air defence, anti-ship strike, and land attack”, a factsheet read. For these purposes, the Seahawk can be armed with Mk 54 torpedoes, hellfire missiles, Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS), cabin-mounted gun, and depth charges.
Representing the Navy’s fixed-wing inventory, is its workhorse -- the carrier-borne interceptor, MiG-29K -- operating from both INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya. Unlike its sibling MiG-29, the MiG-29K is specially adapted for carrier-based missions, and is composed of folding wings, an arrestor hook, and catapult attachments.
The Navy has also displayed the Light Combat Aircraft (Navy) in the exhibition area. “The aircraft is designed by ADA and manufactured by HAL. Successful landing of the LCA (Navy) onboard INS Vikrant has propelled India into the league of a few nations with the capability of designing, developing, testing and manufacturing a deck-borne fighter aircraft,” a statement said.
“The idea behind the static display is to showcase the Indian Navy’s air combat capabilities and strengths,” a Naval ground staffer deployed at Aero India told TNIE.
Today, the Naval Air Arm is composed of around 300 aircraft, which also include helicopters HAL Dhruv, Kamov Ka-27, and HAL Chetak; maritime patrol aircraft Boeing P-8I and Dornier 228; trainers and UAVs. In future, the Navy plans to induct technologically-advanced aircraft platforms, in a bid to operate an Atmanirbhar fleet.
“Enhancing operational capabilities of Naval aviation through modernisation of platforms, acquisition of advanced aircraft, and incorporation of cutting-edge technology, including unmanned systems through indigenous means, is the focus area for the next two decades,” said a report from the Indian Navy. In that context, the future would see more deck-based fighters, maritime-reconnaissance aircraft, carrier-borne airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, air-to-air refuellers (AAR), helicopters, and even amphibious aircraft protecting our seas.
Look...! A plane...!
The static display at Aero India 2025 has more surprises for the military and aviation enthusiasts alike. The massive presence of Airbus A330 MRTT, the aerial refuelling and military transport aircraft based on the civilian A330; Airbus A400M Atlas, the four-engine turboprop military transporter; Embraer C-390 Millennium, the medium-size, twin-engine, jet-powered military transporter; and Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules tactical transport aircraft dominate the tarmac from a distance.
And then, there is the more recently-inducted C-295 MW medium-lift transporter, EMB-145 (AEW&C), Mi-17 V5 helicopter gunship, and Jaguar ground attack jet, with Darin-III avionics, all depicting the scale of IAF’s air power. Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57 sharing space with the US’ Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, along with a couple of F-16s, is another highlight. In the sky, catching the chance flyby of a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and Rockwell B-1 Lancer adds to the excitement.