India’s first private sector aircraft manufacturing facility and its associated industrial ecosystem are likely to be located at the Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat. Dholera is being developed as a prominent node on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, about 100 km south-west of Ahmedabad.
Airbus is to manufacture 40 C-295MW military transport in India in partnership with an Indian consortium led by Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) under a $2.8 Billion contract signed with India’s Ministry of Defence in September 2021.
This will be the first full spectrum ‘Make in India’ aerospace programme in the private sector involving development of a complete industrial ecosystem from manufacture to assembly, test and qualification to delivery and maintenance over the complete life cycle of the aircraft.
A concurrent offsets contract obligates Airbus Defence & Space to source equipment and systems worth 30 per cent of the value of the C-295MW contract from Indian partners. The manufacturing facilities of the Indian offsets partners are also likely to be co-located at Dholera.
This complex could be the centrepiece of the Dholera Special Investment Region’s Aviation Zone and MRO Hub planned adjacent to an in-the-works greenfield international airport. Besides manufacturing units, the plan for the Aviation Zone includes an aviation academy, flight training institute and MRO facilities for airframes, engines and C&D checks.
The Dholera airport will have two runways of 4,000 metres and 2,910 metres respectively. These would be essential to the flight-testing facility for the Airbus-Tata complex.
The C-295MW will replace the ageing and obsolete Avro-748 fleet of the IAF. It is a tactical airlifter in the 5-to-10-ton category which can land on short or unprepared airstrips. It has a proven capacity to airlift up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers and carry logistical loads to locations that are not accessible to heavier aircraft. The C-295MW can perform special missions as well as disaster relief and maritime patrol duties and carry out medical evacuations.
