A few days ago Airbus Defense and Space celebrated another success in India after decades: At the Indian Air Force (IAF) Hindon Air Force Station, the first twin-engine C-295MW transporter was handed over to Defense Minister Shri Rajnath Singh and IAF General Anil Chauhan by Jean-Brice Dumont, head of Airbus’ military aviation division, in front of invited VIP guests.
The handover marked the start of the implementation of the first major contract under the “Make in India” label.
In September 2021, the Indian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with Airbus & Space S.A., Spain, for the contract for the procurement of a total of 56 C-295MW transport aircraft in the 5- to in the 5- to 10-ton class to replace the decades-old Avro 748 and some An-32 aircraft. The project, worth the equivalent of almost three billion euros, is being carried out jointly with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and includes a final assembly line in Vadodara, Gujarat, for which the contract was signed on October 30, 2022 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone was laid.
All seven main components, 13,400 other parts and the final assembly will take place there. However, the first 16 aircraft will still come from Seville, while the first aircraft from Gujarat is currently expected in September 2026 – Indian processes always have something “Byzantine” about them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlxr4UW8MQ All 56 aircraft will in any case be equipped with an Indian EloKa or self-protection set from Bharat Electronics and Bharat Dynamics. The Tata consortium has identified 100 Indian small and medium enterprises as sub-suppliers to participate and estimates that the program will create 600 direct jobs, another 3,000 high-value indirect jobs and 3,000 other jobs in the country in the medium to long term.
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