An Airbus C-295 aircraft at Seville, Spain in May 2013. | Photo: StratPost
India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved the acquisition of 56 Airbus C-295MW transport aircraft to replace the Indian Air Force (IAF) fleet of Hawker Siddeley 748M Avro aircraft.
According to the defence ministry, the ‘Cabinet Committee on Security approved the procurement of fifty six C-295MW transport aircraft from M/s Airbus Defence and Space S.A., Spain for the Indian Air Force.’
While 16 of the aircraft will be delivered from Airbus Military’s assembly line at Seville in Spain, 40 aircraft will be built in India by a partnership between Airbus and Indian industrial giant, the Tata group. The acquisition, which has been under consideration since 2010, is expected to be worth an estimated USD 3 billion and will involve the discharge of offset obligations in India. It was approved by the ministry’s Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC) in 2015.
“Sixteen aircraft will be delivered in flyaway condition from Spain within 48 months of signing of the contract and forty aircraft will be manufactured in India by TATA Consortium within ten years of signing of the contract,” said the defence ministry in a statement, adding that the aircraft would be fitted with an ‘indigenous Electronic Warfare Suite’.
As the defence ministry points out, ‘This is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company’.
“A large number of detail parts, sub-assemblies and major component assemblies of aero structure are scheduled to be manufactured in India,” said the defence ministry, adding that the order is ‘expected to generate 600 highly skilled jobs directly, over 3000 indirect jobs and an additional 3000 medium skill employment opportunities with more than 42.5 lakh man hours of work within the aerospace and defence sector of India’.
Suppliers to the Tata consortium are expected to ‘gain and maintain globally recognized National Aerospace and Defence Contractors Accreditation Program (NADCAP) accreditation’, according to the ministry’s statement.
The terms of the order will also require the setting up of a ‘‘D’ Level servicing facility (MRO) for C-295MW aircraft are scheduled to be setup in India’ before deliveries are completed. “It is expected that this facility will act as a regional MRO hub for various variants of C-295 aircraft,” said the statement.
Airbus has earlier set up an assembly line for the smaller C-235 aircraft in Indonesia.
There could be potential for additional orders, as well, with an assembly line being set up in India. Besides the Avro, the C-295 would be the obvious choice for replacing the IAF’s fleet of AN-32 transport aircraft, which are more than a hundred in number. The Indian Navy has expressed a requirement with a tender for Medium Range Maritime Reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft that could be serviced by the C-295, for example. It is also noteworthy, that unlike some of its contemporaries, the C-295 also has civil certification.
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