India seals historic Airbus Military Aircraft Deal with Tata

New Delhi : The Defence Ministry of India has signed a deal of about Rs 20,000 crore with Airbus Defence and Space of Spain to procure 56 'C-295' medium transport aircraft. It will be replacing the ageing Avro-748 planes of the Indian Air Force.

This will be the first time when a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company. 

According to the deal signed on Friday, 16 aircraft will be delivered in a flyaway condition by the Airbus Defence and Space of Spain within 48 months.

The other 40 airplanes will be manufactured in India by a consortium of the Airbus Defence and Space and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) within a time duration of 10 years, said the Defence Ministry official. 

Meanwhile, Businessman Ratan Tata shared a congratulatory tweet soon after the deal was signed. 

"It will create a domestic supply chain capability to international standards, which has never been undertaken before. The Tata Group congratulates Airbus and the Indian Defence Ministry for this bold step in fully building this state-of-the-art multi-role aircraft in India in support of the Make-in-India thrust to bolster the country''s equity framework," Ratan Tata said.

The contract has been signed two weeks after it was cleared by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Security.

"Contract signed between #MinistryOfDefence and @AirbusDefence &Space, Spain for procurement of 56 C-295 transport aircraft for the #IAF," Defence Ministry Spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu tweeted.

Airbus C-295 MW aircraft is a transport plane of 5-10 tonne capacity.