IAF reviews progress of India’s first locally assembled C-295 at Vadodara facility
New Delhi, May 17. In a significant milestone for India’s aerospace manufacturing ambitions, Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force (IAF), visited the C-295 military transport aircraft final assembly line at Vadodara, Gujarat, on May 15 to assess progress on the first aircraft being built in India.
The inspection took place at the facility operated by Tata Advanced Systems Limited in partnership with Airbus, where India’s first domestically assembled C-295 is nearing completion and preparing for its maiden flight trials.
The visit offered a close look at the production workflow and readiness of the assembly line, which represents a cornerstone of the government’s push for defence indigenisation under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Officials said the review highlighted the Air Force’s intent to deepen domestic capability in military aviation manufacturing and strengthen technological self-reliance in the aerospace sector.
The C-295 programme is widely seen as a turning point for India’s private defence industry. For the first time, a private Indian company has established a complete military aircraft final assembly line in the country – an area traditionally dominated by the public sector.
India had signed a ₹21,935-crore ($2.30 billion) contract in September 2021 for the acquisition of 56 C-295 transport aircraft to replace the ageing Avro-748 fleet. Of these, 16 aircraft are being delivered in fly-away condition from Spain, while the remaining 40 are being manufactured and assembled at the Vadodara facility.
