If there had been a prize for showmanship at this week's airshow at Le Bourget, Paris, Russia would certainly have been a strong contender – parading everything from a jet water bomber to the latest version of Sukhoi Holding's SuperJet, to helicopter, across hundreds of square footage of the airport.
Even the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, turned up to tout the country's air and space credentials.
By contrast – visually at least – aside from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's discrete chalet, and a delegation led by the Union Minister of State for Defence, Mr M.M. Pallam Raju, there was little obvious sign of India's presence.
However, hopes of India-related deals were very much on the minds of the thousands of suited tradesmen and women that braved the continual rain – and one day of train strike – that accompanied the week-long show.
Of course there's the ongoing battle over the medium multi-role combat aircraft, for which the German, British, Italian and Spanish Eurofighter consortium is pitching its Typhoon against French Dassault's Rafale – both took to the skies at the airshow.
Europe or India?
Murmurs that the US was considering attempting to bring Lockheed Martin's F-35 as a last minute contender “ following a recommendation from a Congressional committee” failed to wash with many airshow participants.
At the weekend, EADS Chief Executive warned that focusing mostly on Europe, where governments were keeping a tight rein on expenses was no longer sustainable for the long-term and that the company needed to become a ‘faithful citizen' of countries such as India.
A similar message was reiterated by Mr Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, Chairman of Italy's Finmeccanica, at a press conference on Tuesday.
The company, which has an order book worth €8.5 billion in India is set to commence delivery of its top end AW101 VIP helicopters next year.
While Malaysia's AirAsia set the record with a $18-billion order for 200 of the new engine option version of the Airbus A320, it was India that dominated the order book with GoAir and IndiGo placing orders worth a total of around $23 billion.