Fighter jets, commercial planes and unmanned drones will jostle for attention at Asia's biggest airshow this week as titans Boeing, Airbus and other manufacturers take their wares to the booming Asian market, organizers said.
Industry issues like airport bottlenecks, security, environmental damage, the growth of low-cost carriers and the race to send tourists into space are also expected to be discussed at the inaugural Singapore Airshow, they said.
Regional transport ministers, airline chiefs, airport operators as well as the heads of the International Air Transport Association and the International Civil Aviation Organization are expected to attend.
"The scale of the exhibition is far larger than anything we have had," managing director Jimmy Lau said, comparing it with the Asian Aerospace fair, which has been moved to Hong Kong after a long presence in the city-state.
"We are on the way to becoming one of the top airshows in the world," he said.
More than 30,000 trade visitors, half of them from overseas, are predicted to throng the show from today through Sunday.
Air force chiefs, including the commander of the Israeli Air Force and the Commander of Pacific Forces of the US Air Force, will discuss the future of global air power at their own summit during the event.
Brigadier General Wong Huat Sern, a Singapore air force commander, said one of the emerging issues is the future of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
"For example, what is the future of unmanned warfare and the future growth of UAVs? Will they be used for air-to-air combat?" he said.
The airshow will also feature a conference on defense procurement and a convention showcasing the latest technology in space engineering and design.
Singapore, Southeast Asia's most advanced economy, decided to host its own airshow after organizers of Asian Aerospace transferred the event, held every two years, to Hong Kong.
A record US$15.2 billion in deals was clinched during the last Singapore Asian Aerospace in 2006, but Lau would not comment on potential contracts this year.
The Singapore Airshow will be held at a 30-hectare site near Changi Airport and boasts 40,000m2 of exhibition space, or 40 percent more area than its predecessor.
Unlike Asian Aerospace, which is now strictly a civil aviation event, the Singapore Airshow will have equal commercial and defense components.
As in the past, US-based Boeing, Europe's Airbus and other industry players will showcase their products, including the world's biggest airliner, the Airbus A380, UAVs, warplanes and other lethal war machines.
"The Asia Pacific will continue to be a key market," said Joe Song, Asia Pacific vice president for international business development at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
Defense budgets in the region were growing between five and eight percent annually, he said.
Boeing will bring three F-18 Super Hornets and an F-15 fighter jet to the airshow as part of its defense exhibit that will also feature the Harpoon and JDAM weapons systems.
Air force Top Guns from Singapore and elsewhere will take to the skies during daily aerobatic displays.
Boeing said its commercial exhibit will feature the 787 Dreamliner, its first new model in more than a decade.
The Sydney-based Center for Asia Pacific Aviation consultancy cited reports that Boeing would announce during the airshow orders for about 100 aircraft worth up to US$8 billion from Southeast Asian carriers.
Rival Airbus said it will bring in an A380 aircraft, which will take part in daily flying exhibitions. Last year, Singapore Airlines became the first carrier in the world to commercially fly the double-decker A380, the world's biggest passenger plane.
Sale models of the A350 and the A320, which is popular among Asian budget carriers, will also be displayed.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).