Centre seals Rs 21,000-crore deal with Airbus for buying 56 military transport aircraft

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 24

The Ministry of Defence on Friday signed a contract with European company Airbus for procurement of 56 military transport aircraft C-295MW at a  cost of Rs 21,000 crore.

The C-295MW plane is a transport aircraft of 5-10 tonne capacity with contemporary technology that will replace the ageing Avro aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The aircraft has a rear ramp door for quick reaction and para-dropping of troops and cargo.

As many as 16 planes will be in a flyaway condition to be delivered by Airbus, Spain, within 48 months from the signing of the contract. The remaining 40 are to be made in India by Airbus-Tata consortium within the next 10 years.

This is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company. All 56 aircraft will be installed with indigenous electronic warfare suite.

A large number of parts, sub-assemblies and major component assemblies of aero structure are scheduled to be manufactured in India.

The programme will act as a catalyst in employment generation in the aerospace ecosystem of the country and is expected to generate 600 highly skilled jobs directly, over 3,000 indirect jobs and an additional 3,000 medium skill employment opportunities with more than 42.5 lakh manhours of work within the aerospace and defence sector of India, the Ministry of Defence had claimed in statement on September 8.

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