Military Transport Aircraft Manufacture Unit; Another Mega Project For Gujrat with Tatas & Airbus

Gujarat grabs another (after semiconductor project) mega project with Tatas and Airbus. For the first time, the C-295 aircraft will be manufactured outside of Europe, in Gujrat. The Indian Air Force (IAF) will progressively install a 56 new-generation C-295 transport aircraft during the time span of years 2023-2031 with cost of Rs 21,935 crore deal inked last year.

In September, 2021, India finalised a deal of nearly ₹ 21,000 crore with Airbus Defence and Space to procure 56 C-295 transport aircraft to replace the ageing Avro-748 planes of the IAF under a project that will manufacture military aircraft in India for the first time by a private company. This move could provide a major boost to the country's tactical airlift capability along with the border of China and in the Andaman Nicobar archipelago.

Agreement with Airbus Defence

Under this agreement, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in 'fly-away' condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain from September 2023 to August 2025 and the subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled by the Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the Tata and Airbus companies.

A Megaproject in Gujarat

The remaining 40 will be manufactured at the Tata-Airbus consortium facility at Vadodara in Gujarat, the foundation stone for this consortium will be laid by PM Narendra Modi on October 30.
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 for Gujarat. In September, Vedanta Ltd chose Gujarat for its semiconductor project, the first major step in its $20 billion joint venture with Taiwan's Foxconn.

Private Entity Manufacturing Military Aircraft in India: First Time

This will be the first time a military aircraft will be manufactured by the private sector in India, breaking the virtual monopoly of defence Public Sector Unit Hindustan Aeronautics for decades.
Defence secretary Ajay Kumar said, "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."

Capability of C-295

The C-295, which can carry up to 9-tonne of payload or 71 soldiers or 50 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 and for logistic operations to locations that are not accessible to current heavier aircraft.
IAF vice chief Air Marshal 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.