Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus inaugurated the Final Assembly Line (FAL) complex for the C-295 aircraft in Vadodara, Gujarat in India. The two industries are partnering for the pioneering "Make in India" project to deliver 56 C-295 aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The State-of-the-art facility was inaugurated, according to a note, by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón in the presence of N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons and Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space.

Providing a major boost to the Government of India’s 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) programme, this is the first instance of the private sector setting up an aircraft FAL in India. The inauguration comes three years after the IAF formalised the acquisition of 56 C-295 aircraft to replace their legacy AVRO fleet. As per the contract, 40 units will be manufactured and assembled in partnership with TASL at this FAL, while 16 will be delivered to the IAF in "fly-away’" condition from Airbus’ final assembly line in Seville, Spain. To date, a total of six aircraft have already been delivered.

The first "Make in India" C-295 will roll out of the Vadodara FAL in September 2026, which will be a milestone for the Indian aerospace industry; and shall ramp-up to deliver 40 aircraft to the IAF by August 2031, as required by the IAF contract. India has become the largest customer for the C-295, with the acquisition of 56 aircraft. The C-295 ‘Make in India’ programme will produce more than 85% structural and final assembly of 40 aircraft along with the manufacturing of 13,000 detail parts in India, for which 21 special processes have been certified and 37 India-based suppliers, both from the private and public sectors, have been onboarded.

The C-295 is a tactical transport airplane developped on the basis of the CN-235 platform, by the European Eads-Casa.