The Union Ministry of Defence on Friday officially signed the contract of Rs 21,000 crore with Airbus Defence and Space S.A., Spain to acquire 56 C-295 transport aircraft that will replace the ageing Avro in the Indian Air Force. This is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India under technology transfer by a private company and is expected to cost close to $3bn. It is also the biggest defence deal given to the private sector by the defence ministry yet. The deal has become even more critical for the IAF as a separate project to jointly co-develop and produce a Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) of 20 tonnes with Russia to replace the An-32s in service was scrapped after initial design discussions. Here are the details:
1. The contract spans out much wider than just a simple buy and close deal. Out of the 56, Airbus will build and deliver 16 aircraft in flyway conditions from Spain within four years, whereas, the remaining 40 will be produced in India by a joint partnership between Tata Group and Airbus Spain.
2. All the deliveries will be completed in 10 years and the aircraft would also have an indigenous Electronic Warfare Suite.
3. As the deal is stretched for 10 years and a majority of the planes being manufactures in India, the program is expected to generate 15,000 skilled jobs.
4. In addition to this, the program will also create 10,000 indirect jobs, according to Airbus. The jobs would be of every level, from wielder to top-line engineers and managers.
5. Until now, Tata has scanned over 100 locations throughout the country over the past few years to decide a suitable site for placing the manufacturing plant, but the decision has not been made yet.
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6. Main places where the plant is being scrutinized for now is Gujarat, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and parts of Uttar Pradesh.
7. It also comes with export potential benefits. Being one of the prominent carrier aircraft, the C-295 can be offered in a variety of roles. Tata is confident that it will gain major manufacturing expertise within five years and will get ready for export.
8. The C-295 Airbus is a transport aircraft that comes under the 5-10 tonne capacity. It is capable of operating from semi-prepared strips. It also has a rear ramp door for quick reaction and para dropping of troops and cargo.
9. It can lift up to 9 tonnes of payload and up to 71 personnel. It has a maximum speed of 480 km/hr and can reach as high as 30,000 ft in the air. It also has a short take-off and landing performance making it convenient to use on smaller runways.
10. It is mainly used for tactical transport of troops and logistics like water, food, ammunition etc. and can also be offered in a surveillance and control role.
