A collaboration between Airbus Defence and Space and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) is set to manufacture the C-295 military transport aircraft in India for the country’s air force.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ceremonially laid the foundation stone for the aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
Held on 30 October, the ceremony was attended by various dignitaries, including Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Modi said: “India is moving forward with the mantra of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ and now it is becoming a huge manufacturer of transport aircraft.
“We aim to scale our defence manufacturing beyond $25bn by 2025. Our defence exports will also exceed $5bn.”
The $2.65bn (Rs21,935cr) project will see Airbus deliver the first 16 aircraft in flyaway condition while another 40 units will be manufactured at Vadodara’s facility by the consortium, including TASL and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The consortium will handle the manufacturing of 13,400 parts, around 4,600 sub-assemblies and seven major component assemblies of the C-295 transport aircraft, whereas Airbus will provide engines, landing gear, avionics, and electronic warfare (EW) suite.
The integration of various systems and engines, associated assessments, final flight tests and delivery of the aircraft will be handled by the TATA consortium.
The 16 aircraft will be delivered between September 2023 and August 2025. Delivery of the Indian-manufactured aircraft will start in September 2026.
All the aircraft will be equipped with the Bharat Electronics and Bharat Dynamics-made EW suite.
More than 125 Indian micro, small and medium enterprise suppliers will also be involved in this project.
Once all 56 aircraft are delivered to the IAF, Airbus will be permitted to sell or export India-made aircraft to civil operators and to countries cleared by the Indian Government.
