Ratan Tata Thought, Forged Airbus Partnership’: N Chandrasekaran On C-295 Aircraft Project

Ratan Tata Thought, Forged Airbus Partnership’: N Chandrasekaran On C-295 Aircraft Project

October 31, 2022: Tata Group and European major Airbus will jointly manufacture at least 40 C-295 aircraft in India, with an assembly plant at the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Vadodara.

Globally, few private companies have the capacity to produce passenger aircraft because the technical hurdles are too high.

This feat requires a sophisticated value chain available to only a handful of firms in some advanced economies.

Only 12 countries in the world have the capability to manufacture the aircraft. On Sunday, India took its first step towards joining an elite club with the establishment of an aircraft manufacturing and assembly line.

Rs. 21,935 crore, India’s Tata group and European major Airbus will jointly manufacture at least 40 C-295 aircraft in India, with an assembly plant at the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Vadodara.

The foundation stone of the Vadodara plant, where the military aircraft will eventually be manufactured, was laid by PM Narendra Modi on Sunday. The plant is expected to create 15,000 high-skilled jobs.

The aircraft will be built by an Indian aircraft contractor, a Tata consortium comprising Tata Advance Systems (TASL) and Tata Consultancy Limited (TCL).

The C-295 is a 5-10 ton capacity transport aircraft with contemporary technology that will replace the IAF’s aging Avro aircraft.

Robust and reliable, it is a versatile and efficient tactical transport aircraft that can perform a number of different missions.

The aircraft, with a flight endurance of up to 11 hours, can perform multi-role operations in all weather conditions.

It can routinely conduct day and night combat missions in desert to maritime environments. It has a quick reaction and rear ramp door for para-dropping troops and cargo. Other features include short take-off/land from semi-prepared surfaces, the PMO said in a statement.

TATA Consortium has identified more than 125 in-country MSME suppliers spread across seven states.

It will act as a catalyst in job creation in the country’s aerospace ecosystem and is expected to generate 600 high-skilled jobs directly, over 3,000 indirect jobs and an additional 3,000 medium-skilled employment opportunities with over 42.5 lakh man-hours.

In India’s aerospace and defense sector. About 240 engineers will be trained at the Airbus facility in Spain, the statement added.

“The aircraft we will manufacture will be manufactured by Tata Advance Systems, a Tata Group company, and we will build 40 such aircraft here in Gujarat out of a total order of 56 aircraft.

The aircraft manufacturing program will bring a complete package of aircraft manufacturing and servicing to India in collaboration with Airbus Tata group, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said.

Chandrasekaran added that the project was conceived 10 years ago by Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata, who “conceived the whole concept, the relationship with Airbus and created the partnership”.

“I must thank him for his visionary leadership by spearheading this initiative,” he added. “I am confident that this project will propel India into the next generation of advanced manufacturing.

It will create a diverse and highly sophisticated skills ecosystem supplier base, and most importantly, provide tremendous high-tech opportunities to young entrepreneurs and students.”

The Tata Sons chairman further added, “This will also help India produce quality systems, which will help India produce high-precision and high-quality manufacturing products.”

Christian Scherer, Airbus CCO said that the partnership company will deliver 1 aircraft per week to India for the next 10 years.

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