Amid the big US and European defence giants there is a new presence at the Avalon Airshow: China.

For the first time, Chinese firms are at Australia's aviation megashow - one of the world's major defence and aerospace events - in what is being seen as the first steps of an export push, and one being watched closely by security analysts.

Xiang Meng at the Australian international Air Show. Credit:Joe Armao

The firms include a branch of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China - the nation's defence and aerospace behemoth that makes most of its air force hardware - and a division of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation that makes rockets to launch satellites into orbit.

Australia's Defence Department won't deal with Chinese firms on anything significant. But four years after Canberra slapped a ban on the Chinese firm Huawei's involvement in the NBN, China hopes to make inroads in other areas of aviation and aerospace that can overlap with defence.