Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to officiate the handover of the first C295 military transport aircraft assembled at the Tata-Airbus facility in Vadodara to the Ministry of Defence in the second half of this year, Wouter Van Wersch, President International and executive committee member at Airbus, told reporters at the Singapore Airshow.
The C295 is the first Made in India aircraft from the Vadodara plant, a joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Airbus. Around 70 percent of the aircraft’s components are sourced within India, while roughly 30 percent are imported, including the engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut.
Under the contract with the Defence Ministry, the Vadodara assembly line is slated to deliver 40 of the 56 C295s ordered for the Indian Air Force. Sixteen have already been delivered from Airbus’s production facility in Spain, and the remainder will be completed at the India plant, Van Wersch said, calling the local assembly a significant milestone.
He also said the Vadodara facility could in future supply aircraft to regional markets beyond India. Van Wersch highlighted Airbus’s rapid expansion in India, describing the country as a key centre for engineering and digital work. He noted that Airbus’s Bengaluru operation is moving to a larger campus, and pointed to growing local training initiatives and increased activity in the company’s Delhi office as evidence of deepening ties with India.
