Airbus to showcase C-295W transporter at Goa DefExpo
03 Mar 2016
Airbus will be showcasing its C-295W military medium transport carriers at the upcoming DefExpo 2016 in Goa. The aircraft is slated to replace the Indian Air Force's Avro fleet.
Airbus had won the bid to produce 40 C-295W aircraft in India in partnership with Tata Advanced Systems in May last year under the 'Make in India' programme, while 16 will be bought off the shelf. The €64.5 billion-group Airbus said the selection process for the C-295W medium transport aircraft is ongoing.
To date, as many as 144 C-295s have been delivered out of 165 on order and it is in service in 20 countries.
"We are at the forefront of the 'Make in India' initiative. We will use Defexpo to present our plans to produce defence platforms in India and basically build an industrial eco-system supporting it in collaboration with local partners. This would involve creation of thousands of local jobs, skilling people, technology absorption, etc.," said aid Pierre de Bausset, president & managing director, Airbus Group India.
Besides, Airbus plans to also showcase its wide range of military helicopters which it will be producing in partnership with Mahindra Defence.
Some of its military helicopters that will be on display are the H225M, H125M Fennec and AS565MBe Panther.
In addition, there will be scale models of the SPEXER border/ coastal surveillance radar, a land based Electro Optical Targeting System (EOTS), ARGOS II and GOSHAWK II airborne observation systems, MUSS self-protection system against guided ammunition for battlefield vehicles and ALTAS-2QB hostile laser warners.
The DefExpo is slated to be held from 28-31 March in Goa.