LAGATAR24 DESK
New Delhi, Oct 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was felicitated & presented with a memento by Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, Tata Sons chairperson N Chandrasekaran & urban executive vice president, in Vadodara, Gujarat.
PM Narendra Modi felicitated & presented with a memento by Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, Tata Sons chairperson N Chandrasekaran & urban executive vice president, in Vadodara, Gujarat
PM to lay the foundation stone of C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing plant here today. pic.twitter.com/TtJZqgRCp8
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2022
The PM is to lay the foundation stone for a C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara, Gujarat. He will also address a gathering at Leprosy Ground in Vadodara, as per a Gujarat government release.
The Defence Ministry had announced on Thursday that a consortium consisting of European defense giant Airbus and the Tata group will produce a C-295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Vadodara.
According to Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, Vice Chief of the Air Force, the C-295 can take off and land unprepared and on short runways. It also has excellent fuel efficiency. He stated that when the flyaway aircraft begin arriving in the second half of next year, the IAF will also establish its first C-295 squadron in Vadodara by converting one of the Avro squadrons in the area.
The C295 is an aircraft with a capacity of 5 to 10 tons that is used for tactical transport of up to 71 passengers or 50 paratroopers, as well as for logistical operations to locations that are not accessible to heavier aircraft at the moment. It has been shown to operate from short or unprepared airstrips, which is a proven capability.
This is the first time a military aircraft has been produced in India by a private company. Both aircraft exports and additional IAF orders will be accommodated at the facility. The airplane can be utilized for regular citizen purposes also, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar had said.
The agreement stipulates that Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in “fly-away” condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain, within four years. Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) in India will manufacture and assemble the remaining 40 aircraft as part of an industrial partnership.
In September last year, India had sealed the deal with Airbus Defence and Space for the 56 C-295 aircraft to replace the ageing Avro-748 planes of the IAF.
“This is the start of an entire ecosystem for the aviation sector. This facility will act as regional Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hub for all C-295, said Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar said briefing the media. “The first 16 fly-away aircraft are scheduled to be received between September 2023 and August 2025.
The first Made in India aircraft is expected from September 2026 and completed by 2031 at the rate of eight aircraft per year.”
There are 56 Avro transport aircraft brought in the year 1960 are currently in the IAF’s inventory and urgently require replacement. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved Airbus and TASL’s sole bid for the C-295 aircraft in May 2015, following the release of the Request for Proposals (RFP) to global businesses in May 2013.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) agreed to purchase 56 C-295MW aircraft from Airbus Defence and Space, Spain, for a total of 21,935 crore in September 2021.This is the first project of its kind to use private sector technology transfer to produce a military aircraft in India.
Starting Sunday, PM Modi will embark on a three-day visit to Gujarat, where he will launch a variety of projects in various regions of the state where the Assembly elections are to be announced soon.
