On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez inaugurated an aircraft manufacturing facility in Gujarat’s Vadodara, which will develop C-295 fighter aircraft in collaboration with Spain’s Airbus. The Tata aircraft complex is set to improve India’s defence capabilities by producing 40 C-295 aircraft starting in 2026.
PM Modi said while addressing the event that the aircraft manufacturing capacity will strengthen Indian-Spain relations. He said, ‘From today, we are giving a new direction to India and Spain’s partnership. We are inaugurating the production factory of C-295 aircraft. This factory will strengthen India-Spain relations as well as ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ mission’.
Sanchez remarked, the facility will also drive technological development. He said, ‘This aircraft is a symbol of the Spanish and European aeronautical industry. In addition to contributing to modernising India’s defence capabilities, it will also drive technological development, specifically for the state of Gujarat, India’s leading manufacturing hub. Thousands of direct and indirect jobs will be created here and a new generation of highly qualified engineers and technicians will be trained’.
#WATCH | Gujarat: President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sanchez says, "…In the late 1960s, the talented Paco deLucia and the great Indian musician Ravi Shankar brought our two countries closer through music. Together they managed to fuse Flamengo and Indian classical… pic.twitter.com/dGjTy6XGmm
— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2024
Earlier, the two leaders also held a roadshow in the city as they travelled in an open jeep and greeted people standing on both sides of the route from the airport to the Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) campus.
Sanchez landed in Vadodara around 1.30 am as he started his maiden official visit to India. He is scheduled to visit Mumbai on Tuesday before returning to Spain wherein the two leaders will also visit the historic Laxmi Vilas Palace, where they will hold a bilateral meeting organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Officials said, ‘They will have lunch at the palace before proceeding to their respective destinations’.
A total of 56 aircraft are to be developed under the C-295 program. Of these, 16 are being delivered directly by Airbus from Spain, while the remaining 40 are to be made in India. Notably, TASL is responsible for manufacturing these 40 aircraft in India. This facility will be the first private sector Final Assembly Line (FAL) for military aircraft in India.
About C-295
The C-295 aircraft is flown by two people. It can carry 73 soldiers or 48 paratroopers or 12 stretcher intensive care medevacs or 27 stretcher medevacs along with 4 medical attendants. It can carry a maximum weight of 9250 kg at a time. Its length is 80.3 feet, wingspan is 84.8 feet and height is 28.5 feet.
This aircraft carries 7650 liters of fuel. It can fly at a maximum speed of 482 km/hr. Its range is 1277 to 4587 km. It depends on the weight loaded in it. But the ferry range is 5 thousand km. It can reach a maximum height of 13,533 feet.
It requires a runway of 844 to 934 meters to take off. It requires a runway of just 420 meters to land. It has six hardpoints. That is, a place to install weapons and defense systems. There can be three or inboard pylons under both wings. In which weapons weighing 800 kg can be installed.
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