Made in India: First Indigenous Airbus C-295 Completes Maiden Test Flight

India's first domestically manufactured C-295 military transport aircraft completed its maiden test flight in Vadodara, marking a key milestone before its planned delivery to the Indian Air Force later this year.

The Final Assembly Line (FAL), with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) manufacturing and assembling as per a partnership with Airbus, is projected to deliver 40 C295s between 2026 and 2031. These aircraft are slated to replace the AVRO fleet, first commissioned more than six decades ago.

“This maiden test flight is a crucial step in the aircraft's post-production first of 40 aircraft to be built in India. The test flight advances the programme's objective of delivering the first 'Made in India' C295 aircraft this year to the Indian Air Force,” read the statement.

What makes C295 special?

Airbus positions the C295 as a versatile transport aircraft which can carry up to nine tons of payload or around 70 personnel while cruising at a maximum speed of 480 kmph. The aircraft is powered by two Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines which can take it up to heights of around 30,000 feet. The aircraft can take off, in a limited time, from varied terrain including sandy or grassy airstrips or unpaved land too.

While it can carry troops and cargo as a military transport aircraft, additions including surveillance and reconnaissance, armed close air support including air-to-air refuelling of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, medical evacuation and airborne firefighting along with airborne warning and maritime patrol account for around three dozen countries operating the aircraft globally.

Bolstering India’s air power

Replacing the aging AVRO 748 fleet, India ordered, in 2021, 56 C295s at a cost of Rs 21,935 crore. While 16 of these aircrafts arrived fully manufactured or in ‘fly-away’ condition from the final assembly line in Seville, Spain, the remaining 40 aircraft are to be manufactured and assembled at the FAL in Vadodara inaugurated in 2024.

Notably, Airbus, in the deal, has agreed to transfer manufacturing technology to TASL coupled with delivering special maintenance tools, ground support equipment, test equipment, technical publications, pilot training courses, and a full-motion simulator, among other things according to Indian Express.

Support for spares is to be provided for 10 years along with a logistics contract for five years. Put together, this means that nearly 85 percent of the fleet would be readily available with the air force.

For the made in India aircraft, reports suggest that TASL, in 2023, began manufacturing major airframe components, such as fuselage and tail, in Hyderabad. In 2024, engines from Pratt & Whitney and avionics from Collins Aerospace-both imported from America were fitted in Vadodara.

Every year, the Vadodara FAL is expected to assemble 12 aircraft.

Notably, Bharat Electronics Limited developed the indigenous radar warning receivers and missile approach warning systems developed whereas Bharat Dynamics Limited manufactured the countermeasure dispensing system.

Jorge Tamarit, head of C-295 India programme at Airbus, told reporters earlier that C295’s airframe comprises over 14,000 components of whom around 3,500 parts are slated to be industrialised annually by Tata. He said “We measure indigenisation by labour hours and by the 32nd aircraft it will reach 98%,” highlighting that the last eight aircraft from 32 to 40 would have the maximum indigenous content.

Tata, in a statement, said the project could create more than 15,000 skilled direct and indirect jobs across the aerospace ecosystem. More than 13,400 detail parts, 4,600 sub-assemblies and all the seven major component assemblies are to be manufactured in India, along with tools, jigs and testers.