Airbus to scale up defence production with Tata arm
₹21,395 crore. Around 16 of these aircraft will be acquired in a ready-to-fly condition from the final assembly line at San Pablo Sur site in Seville, Spain. The first aircraft was handed over by Airbus earlier this year in the presence of Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhuri.
Around 40 C295s will be manufactured locally requiring investments from both Airbus and Tata Advanced Systems to establish the defence supply chain. According to Tamarit, Airbus aims to leverage this supply chain not only for additional transport aircraft but also for other defence platforms and offerings, given that the Indian military requires an estimated 100 aircraft. Airbus and Tata expect to deliver the first India-manufactured C295 in 2026 from their final assembly line in Vadodara, which will be operational by November 2024.
Component production for the aircraft has started at the main constituent assembly facility in Hyderabad, Airbus said. Other foreign defence firms, such as Brazil’s aviation major Embraer, are also exploring establishing manufacturing facilities in India. Mint earlier reported that Embraer is in talks with the Tatas and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to manufacture defence transport aircraft in India.
Following the Centre’s push to encourage global defence companies to “Make in India", there’s a concerted effort to establish a robust domestic defence supply chain. New Delhi’s initiatives include releasing indigenization lists, boosting domestic procurement in Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, and promoting defence industrial corridors. These measures aim to facilitate the entry of foreign firms into the Indian market, support defence startups, and boost research within the country.
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