In a major boost to Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign, Indian Air Force’s C-295 transport aircraft will be manufactured in the country by a consortium of European defence major Airbus and Indian conglomerate Tata.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday lay the foundation stone of a manufacturing facility in Gujarat’s Vadodara for production of C-295 transport aircraft for the IAF. The project comes in Gujarat ahead of the state Assembly elections.
Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar said the facility will cater to export of the aircraft as well as for additional orders by the Indian Air Force. “This is for the first time, the C-295 aircraft will be manufactured outside of Europe. This is very significant for the domestic aerospace sector,” Kumar said.
In September last year, India sealed an over Rs 21,000 crore deal with Airbus Defence and Space to procure 56 C-295 aircraft to replace the ageing Avro-748 planes of the IAF. 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 and assembled by the Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies, PTI reported.
It is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company. The total cost of the project is Rs 21,935 crore.
Here are five things you should know about about C295
- C-295 is a transport aircraft of 5-10 tonne capacity with contemporary technology that will replace the ageing Avro aircraft of IAF. It can be transformed into several variants, including a water bomber, an air tanker (for air-to-air refuelling), for transporting VIPs and for medical evacuation, according to Airbus.
- IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal Sandeep Singh suggested that the aircraft would be able to operate from Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) and even unprepared runways. The aircraft comes with a short take-off and landing from semi-prepared surfaces feature. It has a rear ramp door for quick reaction and para dropping of troops and cargo.
- The aircraft has the longest unobstructed cabin in its class – 12.7 m or 41 ft 8 in in length and can carry around 40-45 paratroopers or around 70 passengers.
- The C295 is fully certified and routinely operates day and night in combat missions in all weather extremes, from desert to maritime environments, from extremely hot to extremely cold temperatures.
- The C-295 has a glass cockpit with digital avionics, including four large active matrix liquid crystal displays (6 x 8 inches) that are compatible with night vision goggles.
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