Offshoring opponents are criticising the decision by an American software firm to outsource avionics software development, questioning whether mission-critical software should be created by international teams.

Silver Software, which has a software development facility in Bangalore, and Avista Inc last week, announced an alliance that would allow US aircraft makers and avionics companies to shift software development offshore.

The partnership will "provide significant cost benefits" to aircraft makers, Avista president James Schneller told Information Week, a IT magazine.

However, critics like Norm Matloff, who is a computer science professor at the University of California and a leading US opponent of offshoring, said overseas development of avionics software is a bad idea.

He also asked whether the alliance between Avista Inc and Silver Software, would actually result in cost savings.

Schneller countered the allegations saying that, for decades, large aircraft manufacturers have worked with outside contractors for various parts, software and systems to utilise specialised expertise and minimise overhead.

Silver Software specialises in avionics domain expertise and has achieved a Level 5 rating for offshore development capabilities.