An Indian Air Force C-295 aircraft after it successfully completed the first landing at the Navi Mumbai Airport, in Mumbai. (Representative image)
New Delhi: Ready for operations within two years, India’s first private aircraft manufacturing facility at Vadodara will roll out the first made-in-India C295 aircraft in September 2026, government sources said here.
To be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez on Monday, the brand new facility will make 40 such aircraft for the IAF even as the government is likely to award a contract for another 15 such aircraft primarily for use in maritime surveillance.
Sources on Sunday said that indigenous content in these aircraft would be raised progressively with the last 24 aircraft having 75 per cent of its components coming from the domestic industry.
The Defence Ministry in September 2021 signed a Rs 21,935 crore contract with Airbus to procure the C295 transporters to replace the IAF’s ageing Avro fleet.
Sixteen of these aircraft are to come in a fly away condition from an Airbus unit in Spain while the rest are to be made at the Vadodara plant set up by Tata Advanced Systems Limited.
“The final assembly line has been built in a very short time. The pre-production activities will start from December 2024 and assembly will begin from October 2025. The first C-295 will roll out of the Vadodara facility by September 2026,” sources said.
As per the contract, all the 40 aircraft are to be delivered by August 2031.
Out of the 16 aircraft that are to come in a fly-away condition, six have arrived and inducted in 11 Squadron based at Vadodara. The last of the 16 flyaway aircraft will be delivered by August 2025.
Along with the aircraft a full mission simulator has also been installed at IAF’s Agra station.
All the 56 aircraft will be equipped with an electronic warfare suit manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Dynamics Limited.
The indigenous content of the made-in-India aircraft will be gradually raised from 48% in the first 16 platforms to 75 per cent in the remaining 24.
In the next 15 aircraft – approved by the Defence Acquisition Council – the indigenous content would be raised to 78 per cent, they said. Out of these 15 aircraft, nine will be for the Indian Navy and the rest for Indian Coast Guard.
The aircraft with a payload capacity of 9.5 tonnes will be able to operate from Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) and even unprepared runways. The aircraft can carry 71 soldiers or 44 paratroopers with full load.