Moving to achieve a milestone in the highly competitive aviation industry and boosting its Make-in-India defence programme, the government announced, on 27 October, that a transport aircraft manufacturing facility for the Indian Air Force will come up in Vadodara.
To start with, 40 of the 56 C-295MW transport aircraft being procured from Airbus Defence and Space SA, Spain, will be manufactured at the new facility in Vadodara.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Vadodara facility on October 30. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will be among those attending the function.
In September 2021, after the Cabinet Committee on Security approved the procurement of 56 C-295MW transport aircraft from Airbus Defence and Space SA, the Ministry of Defence signed a contract for acquisition of the aircraft with associated equipment.