Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of a transport aircraft manufacturing project at Vadodara, Gujarat on October 30. The facility will produce Airbus C-295MW transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF). This will be the first instance of military aircraft factory being set-up in Gujarat.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel will also be present at the event.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar said, this 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 INR 21,935 crore and will be a major boost to the defence manufacturing ecosystem in India. As per the present contract, 40 aircraft will be manufactured in India by a TATA Consortium of Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), led by the former.
The C-295MW military transport can carry a payload of 5-10 tonne and the new aircraft are being acquired to replace the IAF’s obsolete HS-748 ‘Avro’ aircraft, which were built under license in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
Also Read:
Emirates Picks Thales’ AVANT Up In-Flight Entertainment For Airbus A350s
Redbird Flight Training Academy, Airbus Offer A320 Type-Rating Training
Airbus Joins GMR Group For Aircraft Maintenance Training Programme