Airbus C-295 aircraft manufacturing ecosystem taking shape in India
- 16 aircraft would come in fly away condition, manufactured at the Airbus facility in Seville, Spain.
- 40 would be manufactured in India by Airbus jointly with Tata; around 3,500 parts will be industrialised in India every year, according to a top Airbus official.
Timeline
- Sixteen (16) aircraft are scheduled to be received between September 2023 and August 2025. Remaining forty (40) will be manufactured at the Vadodara manufacturing facility.
- The first Made in India aircraft is expected from September 2026.
in September, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will receive the first C-295 transport aircraft and ahead of it, six pilots have been trained in Seville by Airbus and training of a 20-member maintenance crew is currently under way.
Ground breaking ceremony for a training centre at Air Force station, Agra, was done in March with a full motion simulator to be delivered by the end of 2024. Work is under way for setting up the Final Assembly Line (FAL) at Vadodara in partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), according to Jorge Tamarit, head of C-295 India programme, Airbus.
The second C-295 will be delivered in May 2024 followed by seven aircraft in 2024 at the rate of one per month, said Jorge Madrid, head of C-295 India-version development programme
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility - the country’s first in the private sector - in Vadodara, Gujarat on October 30, 2022. The facility will manufacture C-295 aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) through collaboration between Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Airbus Defence and Space S.A., Spain. This is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company. The total cost of the project is Rs 21,935 crore. The aircraft can be used for civilian purposes as well.
The contract involving ‘Make-in-India’ and offset obligations is unprecedented. Airbus has not done a full production system ever, he said stating the deal involves 30% offset obligations on top of ‘Make-in-India’ obligations. The contract includes service support programme: spares, ground support and test equipment, tech publications, training, training devices, performance-based logistics contract.
The FAL spread over 36 acres will be ready by mid-2024 and operations will start by November 2024. All parts produced in Hyderabad will be shipped to Vadodara for the final assembly.
The project will create 15,000 direct jobs and 10,000 indirect jobs over the coming 10 years. Airbus currently employs over 2,750 full-time employees in India and its exports from supply chain is $750 million per year in terms of components and services.
Aircraft capability
- The C-295 is a transport aircraft of 5-10 tonne capacity with contemporary technology that will replace the ageing Avro aircraft of IAF.
- Robust and reliable, it is a versatile and efficient tactical transport aircraft which can perform a number of different missions.
- The aircraft, with a flight endurance of up to 11 hours, can carry out multi-role operations under all weather conditions.
- It can routinely operate day as well as night combat missions from desert to maritime environments.
- It has a rear ramp door for quick reaction and para dropping of troops and cargo.
- Short take-off/land from semi-prepared surfaces is another of its features.
