PM Modi, Spain PM to inaugurate Tata-Airbus C295 Vadodara plant today

Tata-Airbus C295 project to be inaugurated in Vadodara on Monday marks the first time a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez will inaugurate the Tata Advanced Systems Ltd’s (TASL’s) final assembly line facility for the C295 aircraft in Vadodara on Monday.  

 

The manufacturing facility will be inaugurated during Sanchez’s official visit to India from October 27 to 29. This will be the first private sector military aircraft manufacturing facility in India and has been described by the government as a "flagship" 'Make in India' initiative in the aerospace sector.

 

The Airbus C295 transport aircraft manufactured at the facility, set up by TASL in collaboration with Airbus Spain, will be deployed by the Indian Air Force (IAF). 

 

Prime Minister Modi laid the project's foundation stone two years ago on October 30, and will inaugurate it with Sanchez on Monday, the Gujarat government said in a release this week. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also confirmed the upcoming inauguration. 

"A vital bilateral meeting between the two Prime Ministers will also take place in Vadodara," the Gujarat government release added.

 

In September 2021, India formalised the acquisition of 56 C295 transport aircraft to replace the IAF's ageing Avro-748 fleet, under a nearly Rs 21,000 crore deal with Airbus Defence and Space. 

While Airbus is delivering the first 16 aircraft in fly-away condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain, the remaining 40 will be manufactured and assembled by TASL in India, under an industrial partnership between the two companies. 

 

Airbus officially handed over the first fly-away C295 aircraft, built in Seville, to the IAF in September 2023.

 

An Airbus release then said the first 'Make in India' C295 would roll out of the Vadodara plant in September 2026, with the final aircraft expected to be delivered to the IAF by August 2031.

 

The release added that the production of components for these aircraft had already started at a facility in Hyderabad. 

 

The C295 is a military transport aircraft. Equipped with an indigenous electronic warfare suite, it will help the IAF modernise its transport fleet. It has a payload capacity of up to 9 tonnes and can carry up to 70 troops or 49 paratroopers.