Aerobatic aircrafts perform during Chile's 20th International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE) at Santiago international airport in Santiago, Chile, on April 3, 2018. FIDAE, Latin America's biggest fair of its type, kicked off Tuesday, featuring 120 civil and military aircraft from over 50 companies. (Xinhua/Wang Pei)
SANTIAGO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Chile's 20th International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE), Latin America's biggest fair of its type, kicked off Tuesday, featuring 120 civil and military aircraft from over 50 companies, organizers said.
Among the aircraft, the U.S.-made F-35 Lightning is currently the world's most modern combat jet, which "will revolutionize the future of military aviation in the next 30 years," said Col. Jaime Reyes, one of the organizers.
Other new attractions include the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, a strategic long-distance eight-engine subsonic bomber, and the S-64 Aircrane helicopter from U.S. manufacturer Erickson, designed to fight fires with a capacity to discharge up to 10,000 liters of water.
The fair, which runs through Sunday, also highlighted its first-ever pavilion dedicated to drones which "are no longer a fad," organizers said, adding: "This technology is developing at an exponential rate, practically with no limits on what it can do."
First organized in 1980 by Chile's Air Force, this year's event expects to draw more than 120,000 people to a venue located beside Santiago's international airport.
