The Indian Air Force (IAF) will progressively induct 56 new-generation C-295 transport aircraft in the 2023-2031 timeframe under the Rs.21,935 crore deal set up in the year 2021. This move could provide a major boost to the country’s tactical airlift capability along the border with China and in the Andaman Nicobar archipelago.
The first 16 aircrafts will be delivered in a flyaway condition by Airbus Defence and Space (Spain) from September 2023 to August 2025.
A manufacturing facility in Gujarat will be set up in the near future. The remaining 40 will subsequently be manufactured at the Tata-Airbus consortium facility at Vadodara in Gujarat, the foundation stone for which will be laid by PM Mr. Narendra Modi on October 30, Defence Secretary Mr. Ajay Kumar said on Thursday.
After the recent five-day DefExpo at Gandhinagar, the setting up of the Vadodara facility is the second such big announcement in the defence sector in Gujarat. In September, Vedanta Ltd picked Gujarat for its semiconductor project, the first major step in its $20 billion joint venture with Taiwan’s Foxconn.
This will be the first time that a military aircraft will be manufactured by the private sector in India, breaking the virtual monopoly of defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics for decades. “Also, 96% of the total man-hour work per aircraft that Airbus employs at its manufacturing facility at Spain will be undertaken in India by the Tata consortium,” Kumar said.
The C-295, which has the capacity can carry up to 9-tonne of payload or 71 soldiers or 44 paratroopers, is an extremely versatile airlifter with “short take-off and land capability from semi-prepared surfaces in the hilly terrain that we see in our border areas”, according to the defence secretary.
IAF vice chief Air Marshal Mr. Sandeep Singh said the “extremely fuel-efficient” C-295s would “certainly surpass” the ageing Avro and AN-32 aircraft in operating from advanced landing grounds (ALGs) in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China.
