PM Modi and Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez jointly inaugurate Tata facility for C-295 aircraft

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez jointly inaugurated the Tata Aircraft Complex in Vadodara, Gujarat, on Monday.

The Vadodara facility will act as a final assembly line (FAL) for the Airbus C-295 military transport aircraft.

The facility, being hosted by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) Campus in Vadodara, will be the first private sector assembly unit for military aircraft in the country.

The Vadodara facility will initially be used for assembling 40 of the 56 C-295 aircraft under the `Make in India’ initiative. Airbus will deliver 16 of these aircraft on a fully built form.

Airbus C-295 aircraft is used by the armed forces for tactical transport and logistics support.

The C-295 aircraft is designed to transport up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers to locations currently inaccessible to larger aircraft. It will replace India’s ageing Avro-748 fleet.

Modi expressed confidence that the Vadodara aircraft facility will be used as an export hub for the C-295 aircraft.

He said India’s defence ecosystem has expanded with the establishment of defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, adding that the Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme has spurred the growth of around 1,000 defence startups in the past five to six years. 

Modi said India’s defence exports have increased 30 times over the past decade and that the country now exports defence equipment to over 100 countries.

The prime minister said the Airbus-Tata facility will support indigenous manufacturing of 18,000 aircraft parts, providing immense opportunities for MSMEs across India, and will have a multiplier effect on job creation.