Modi lays foundation stone of C-295 manufacturing facility
   Date :31-Oct-2022

C-295 manufacturing facility  
 
 
 
VADODARA, 
INDIA will now become a major producer of transport aircraft, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday after laying the foundation stone of a manufacturing facility for C-295 medium transport plane for the Indian Air Force.
Modi said India is witnessing rapid economic growth including in the manufacturing sector as his Government’s policies are “stable, predictable and futuristic”.
“Today India is working with a new mindset and new work culture,” he said in his address at the ceremony in this city in Gujarat. He said India, with its ‘Make-in-India’ and ‘Make-for-World’ approach, is enhancing its strength further and that the country has emerged as a major manufacturing hub globally.
The Prime Minister said the manufacturing of C295 aircraft in Vadodara will not only give strength to the military but it will also create an aerospace ecosystem. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the occasion as a milestone in India’s quest for becoming self-reliant in defence. The aircraft will be produced by a consortium of European aerospace major Airbus and the Tata Group.
It is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company.
The manufacturing unit will also cater for the export of the premier transport aircraft as well as for additional orders by the Indian Air Force. In September last year, India sealed a Rs 21,935 crore deal with Airbus Defence and Space to procure 56 C-295 aircraft to replace the IAF’s ageing Avro-748 planes that entered service in the early 1960s. Under the agreement, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in ‘fly-away’ condition from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain within four years and the subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies.
The 16 fly-away aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to the IAF between September 2023 and August 2025.
The first Made-in-India aircraft will be rolled out of the manufacturing facility in September 2026 and the remaining 39 will have to be produced by August 2031.
The foundation laying ceremony was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel among others.