Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the C-295 military transport aircraft facility in Vadodara, Gujarat, inaugurated by him and visiting Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, will give strength to India-Spain relations and fulfil the ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ vision of the government.
Addressing the event, which was also attended by the Spanish President, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and EAM S Jaishankar, the PM congratulated the Tata Advanced Systems team and Airbus Spain which have set up the facility.
He said that if Ratan Tata, Tata Group head who died earlier this month, had been alive he would have been very pleased, but his soul will be very happy with today’s development.
PM Modi said the C-295 facility is reflective of India’s new generation and new work culture, and the speed at which it is working.
“Two years ago in October I laid the foundation stone, and today in the month of October, the factory is ready for production,” the PM added.
He said his focus has always been that there should not be much delay between planning and execution, and gave the example of when he was CM of Gujarat and had decided to make the Bombardier train coach factory in Vadodara. “In record time we readied it for production, and today we are exporting the coaches outside,” the PM said.
The PM said he has full faith that the aircraft manufactured in the C-295 facility will be exported outside.
The PM said that defence manufacturing in the country is reaching new heights. “Ten years ago no one could even imagine that defence manufacturing can be done on this scale in India. This happened because we took firm steps 10 years ago. We decided to take the new path, and drew up new goals for us, and the results are there for everyone to see.”
He said that in the past 10 years, since his government came to power, the country has taken many such decisions to create a vibrant defence manufacturing sector, including by allowing in the private sector, making the public sector efficient, making DRDO and HAL more effective, creating a defence corridor in UP and TN, to give new energy to the defence sector.
He said the government’s iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) has given defence startups new direction and over 1,000 new defence startups have been created. ”Defence exports have gone up by 30 percent and today India is providing defence equipment to more than 100 countries.”
He said the government is focusing on skills and job creation, and the C-295 facility will provide thousands of jobs, including through the MSMEs being set up that will work to provide the 18,000 parts needed.
He also said that today India is among the major suppliers in the world of aircraft parts.
The C295 factory will give defence manufacturing new boost, he said.
The PM said that in the past 10 years the aviation sector has seen major transformation, with small cities being brought under civil aviation.
The PM said the government is working to make India a major hub of aviation and aviation maintenance (MRO).
He remarked that the Vadodara facility will play a major role in manufacturing civil aircraft and that Vadodara will become a hub of aviation manufacturing.
PM Modi said India and Spain are joined by “food films and football, and strong people to people links”
He said 2026 is being celebrated as the year of India-Spain tourism, culture and AI.
“India-Spain partnership is vibrant and ever evolving. I have faith that this joint collaboration will encourage many more such ventures,” the PM said and invited Spanish innovators and industrialists to be partners in India’s growth story.
The Final Assembly Line Plant of the C295 aircraft at Vadodara, a flagship ‘Make in India’ initiative in the aviation sector, is being set up by Tata Advanced Systems in collaboration with Airbus Spain.
A total of 56 aircrafts are there under the C-295 programme, of which 16 are being delivered directly by Airbus from Spain and the remaining 40 are to be made in the Vadodara facility.
Tata Advanced Systems Ltd is responsible for making these 40 aircrafts in India.
The Tata Advanced Systems facility will be the first private sector Final Assembly Line (FAL) for military aircraft in India. It will involve the full development of a complete ecosystem from the manufacture to assembly, test and qualification, to delivery and maintenance of the complete lifecycle of the aircraft.
Apart from Tatas, leading defence public sector units such as Bharat Electronics Ltd. and Bharat Dynamics Ltd, as well as private Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises will contribute to this programme.
Earlier in October 2022, Prime Minister Modi had laid the foundation stone for the Vadodara Final Assembly Line (FAL).
