Prime Minister Narendra Modi today jointly inaugurated the TATA Aircraft Complex for manufacturing C-295 aircraft with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez in Gujarat’s Vadodara.
A total of 56 aircraft are there under the C-295 programme, of which 16 are being delivered directly by the aircraft manufacturing company Airbus from Spain, and the remaining 40 will be built at the facility, which is the first private sector Final Assembly Line (FAL) for military aircraft in India.
It will involve the full development of a complete ecosystem from the manufacture to assembly, test and qualification, to delivery and maintenance of the complete lifecycle of the aircraft. The Ministry of Defence in 2021 signed a ₹ 21,935-crore contract with Airbus Defense and Space SA, Spain for the supply of 56 aircraft.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, PM Modi said the aircraft manufactured at the Vadodara facility will also be exported in the future.
“The Tata-Airbus manufacturing facility will strengthen the India-Spain relations and the ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ mission,” PM Modi, who laid the foundation stone of the FAL plant of C-295 aircraft in Vadodara in October 2022, said.
He also paid tribute to former Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, who is said to be the brains behind the project. Mr Tata died at the age of 86 earlier this month.
“Recently, we lost the country’s great son Ratan Tata ji. If he had been among us today, he would have been happy, but wherever his soul is, he would be happy,” he said.
At the event, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said the project was originally conceived by Ratan Tata in 2012.
“I will fail in my duty if I forget to mention that this project was originally conceived more than a decade ago, in 2012, by the then Tata Sons Chairman, Ratan Tata ji, who led the whole concept to build a relationship with Airbus and created this partnership with Airbus and laid the foundation stone for this opportunity. So, I would like to remember him for his visionary leadership in this very path-breaking initiative,” he said.