At the 10th Biennale Aero India held in Bangalore this week, among the many global defence giants was Brazil’s Embraer (Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica) selling both defence and executive aircraft.
Embraer’s story is one that India’s own Hindustan Aeronauticals Ltd (HAL) should emulate. Embraer was created in 1969 by the Brazilian government, just a few years after HAL was established. HAL had a head start over Embraer: it began as privately-owned Hindustan Aircraft in 1940 and made its first aircraft (PC 5 A) as early as 1941. But HAL then fell behind from lack of ambition and vision.