NEW DELHI: The Tata-Airbus facility to manufacture C-295 tactical military airlift aircraft at Vadodara in Gujarat will be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez on Monday. Under the Rs 21,935 crore contract inked for 56 C-295 aircraft in 2021, 16 of the twin-turboprop planes are being delivered directly by Airbus from Spain and 40 are to be made in India.
“The Indian and Spanish PMs will jointly inaugurate the TATA Aircraft Complex for manufacturing C-295 aircraft at the TATA Advanced Systems Ltd campus,” an official said.
The first of the 40 planes to be produced at the new facility is slated to roll out in Sept 2026 and the last in Aug 2031. Capable of carrying up to nine-tonne of payload or 71 soldiers with a “short take-off and land” capability from semi-prepared surfaces in hilly terrain, the C-295 aircraft will boost IAF’s tactical airlift capability along the China border, as also other places like the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, as reported earlier by TOI.
The C-295 aircraft will replace IAF’s HS-748 Avro fleet. This is the first instance of the private sector manufacturing a military aircraft, breaking the virtual monopoly of defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics.
The Rajnath Singh-led defence acquisitions council in Feb had approved the initial case for 15 more C-295 aircraft, with nine being earmarked for Navy and six for Coast Guard.