Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sánchez are likely to inaugurate the final assembly line (FAL) near Vadodara, Gujarat, on October 28. This facility will roll out the first of 40 Made-in-India C-295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) by 2026.
Under the ₹22,000 crore deal between Airbus Defence and Space SA, Spain and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), 56 C-295 medium-weight transport aircraft will be procured. Sixteen of these will come from Airbus’s final assembly line in Seville in ‘fly-away’ condition, while the remaining has to produced in Vadodara.
Since From September last year, at least half a dozen C-295s have already arrived in India.
Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, who is leading a visiting delegation from the French Aerospace Industry Association (GIFAS) to India, confirmed on Monday that “we are going to inaugurate the C-295 assembly line”.
He, however, did not share the FAL inauguration date, but sources privy to developments said it will take place on October 28 to coincide the visit of Spain PM Pedro Sánchez.
On October 30, 2022, Prime Minister Modi had laid the foundation stone for the C-295 manufacturing facility at Vadodara. TASL has setup a Main Constituent Assembly (MCA) production plant at Hyderabad to supply assemblies to the FAL in Vadodara for the final production of the aircraft.
The leading European aerospace conglomerate will handover the entire transfer of technology to TASL, which will give a major boost to the defence aerospace production in India.
In addition to the contract for 56 for the IAF, the Ministry of Defence also gave an approval in February to the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) to purchase $3.5 billion-worth 15 maritime patrol aircraft which would be based on the C-296 platform.
Of the lot, the Navy will acquire 9 Medium Range Maritime Reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft. On the other hand, the ICG will buy 6 Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft (MMMA) to strengthen their surveillance capabilities.
While the final indigenous production of the C-295 is set to begin in Gujarat, Airbus and TASL have still not identified a location in India to establish another FAL for production of H125 helicopter for the civil market, further supporting the Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
The announcement for putting up a facility for the production of copter in India was done in January.
It’s learnt that state governments including of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are vying to get this FAL, which will take two years to come up, in their respective regions given that it would generate employment and business.
Deliveries of the first Made in India H125s are expected to commence in 2026.
The FAL will undertake the integration of the major component assemblies, avionics and mission systems, installation of electrical harnesses, hydraulic circuits, flight controls, dynamic components, fuel system and the engine, the Airbus had stated in January.
It will also do testing, qualification, and delivery of the H125 to customers in India and the region.