The Defense Ministry has signed an agreement with Spain's Airbus Defense and Space for the purchase of 56 C-295 cargo planes worth about Rs 22,000 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Defense had recently given the green signal for this. Importantly, the aircraft will be made in India and will be manufactured by Airbus in association with Tata. This is the second major deal to be struck with an Indian company after Rafael.
The deal is expected to create more than 6,000 jobs in India in the next few years. In addition, the country will have the latest technology in the field of aviation. According to the Ministry of Defense, this is the first project of its kind in which a private company will build an aircraft for the army. Until now, this was the responsibility of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Now, for the first time, a private company is going to build military aircraft for the military.
According to the deal, 16 aircraft will be imported from Airbus Defense Spain. Other aircraft will be built at Tata's project in the next 10 years. Places are being sought around Hyderabad and Bangalore for this. Projects can also be set up in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. The country has been working towards C295MW transport aircraft since 2012. This year, their proposal was sent to CCS.
The C-295 will replace the Air Force's obsolete Avro-748 aircraft. India will get 16 aircraft in the next 48 months. The remaining 40 aircraft will be built in India.