VADODARA, October 21 — Marking a watershed moment in India’s domestic aerospace ecosystem, the Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus Defence and Space consortium rolled out the first indigenously assembled C-295MW tactical military transport aircraft from the Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Vadodara, Gujarat on Tuesday.
Executed under the ₹21,935 Crore Ministry of Defence contract for 56 aircraft to replace the Indian Air Force’s legacy HS-748 Avro fleet, the program saw the initial 16 aircraft delivered in fly-away condition from Seville, Spain, while the remaining 40 aircraft are being manufactured and assembled at the Vadodara complex. Over 13,000 detail parts and sub-assemblies are fabricated domestically across 125 Indian MSME suppliers.
Air Force officials highlighted that the twin-turboprop C-295 can airlift up to 9 tonnes of military payload or 71 combat troops, possessing exceptional Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) performance on unpaved, semi-prepared high-altitude Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) along the northern borders.
The strategic transition of India’s private sector into full-scale military aircraft manufacturing, the operational fleet hierarchy of the IAF transport wing (C-17 Globemaster III, C-130J Super Hercules, IL-76, and C-295), and Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP 2020) Buy & Make categories are key study areas for UPSC GS-III and CDS.