India’s growing aircraft industry

(Mains GS 3 : Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.)

Context:

• A huge step forward for India in the global aircraft manufacturing domain came when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara to be set up by Airbus Defence and Space and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL). 
• This is the first time a private sector company would be manufacturing a full aircraft in the country.

About C-295MW transporter:

• The C-295MW is a transport aircraft of 5-10 tonne capacity which will replace the legacy Avro aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF) procured in the 1960s.
• The C-295 has very good fuel efficiency and can take off and land from short as well as unprepared runways.
• The Request For Proposal (RFP) was issued to global firms in May 2013 and the sole bid by Airbus and TASL was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in May 2015.
• On September 24, 2021 the Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a ₹21,935 crore contract with Airbus Defence and Space for the acquisition of 56 C-295MW aircraft along with associated equipment.
• Of the 56 aircraft contracted, 16 will come in fly-away condition from Spain between September 2023 and August 2025.
• The remaining 40 will be manufactured here to be delivered between September 2026 and 2031 at the rate of eight aircraft per year.

Domestic aircraft manufacturing:

• Over the last two decades, Indian companies, both public and private, have steadily expanded their footprint in the global supply chains of major defence and aerospace manufacturers supplying a range of components, systems and sub-systems.
• For instance, Boeing’s sourcing from India stands at $1 billion annually, of which over 60% is in manufacturing, through a growing network of 300+ supplier partners of which over 25% are micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).
• Tata in a joint venture (JV) with Boeing, manufactures aero-structures for its AH-64 Apache helicopter, including fuselages, secondary structures, vertical spar boxes fuselages and vertical fin structures for the 737 family of aircraft.
• Similarly, Lockheed Martin has joint ventures with TASL in Hyderabad which has manufactured more than 180 empennages for the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft and delivered 157 S-92 helicopter cabins. 

Boost economy:

• The domestic defence manufacturing ecosystem will get a boost with the C-295 project as it will lead to the development of a strong private industrial aerospace ecosystem not only in and around Vadorara but across the country.
• Bengaluru and Hyderabad already have developed such aerospace and defence domains over the years.
• The C-295 project is expected to create more than 15,000 skilled direct and indirect jobs across the aerospace ecosystem, with more than 125 suppliers qualified on global quality standards across India. 
• Manufacturing of over 13,400 detail parts, 4,600 sub-assemblies and all the seven major component assemblies will be undertaken in India, along with tools.

Conclusion:

• Today India has the world's fastest growing aviation sector and we are about to reach the top three countries in the world in terms of air traffic.
• However, the private defence sector is still nascent and a conducive and stable regulatory and policy environment will be an important enabler.
• With the right momentum, a realistic roadmap and enabling policy framework, a similar story can be scripted to make the country a hub for aircraft manufacturing.