The Indian Air Force (IAF) has taken the delivery of its second C-295 aircraft from Airbus in Spain, and the ₹21,935-crore project to modernise the IAF’s transport fleet is moving at the desired pace, officials aware of the matter said on Saturday.
The aircraft is expected to arrive in the country on May 6, the officials said. IAF inducted its first C-295 transport aircraft at a ceremony attended by defence minister Rajnath Singh, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and other top officials at the Hindan air base last September.
In September 2021, the defence ministry signed the ₹21,935-crore contract with Airbus for 56 planes to boost self-reliance in defence. Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Airbus are jointly executing the programme. The European plane maker will deliver 16 planes in flyaway condition, while the rest will be assembled in India at a Tata facility in Gujarat’s Vadodara city.
The planes will boost the air force’s logistics capabilities to meet mission requirements in forward areas and replace its ageing fleet of Avro transport aircraft that entered service in the early 1960s.
The last of the 16 flyaway aircraft will be delivered to IAF by August 2025, while the first “made in India” C-295 will roll out of the Vadodara facility in September 2026 and the remaining 39 by August 2031, as previously reported by HT.
