<p>The first Airbus-made C295 transport aircraft for India has successfully flown its maiden flight, marking a significant milestone towards its delivery to the Indian Air Force by the second half of 2023.</p>.<p>The first aircraft took off from an Airbus facility at Seville in Spain last Friday and flew for three hours, the company said in a press statement on Monday. The C295 fleet will replace the ageing Avros being flown by the IAF.</p>.<p>The defence ministry in September 2021 signed a Rs 22,000-crore contract with Airbus to buy 56 C295 aircraft, of which 16 aircraft will arrive in fly-away condition between September 2023 and August 2025. The remaining 40 planes would be manufactured by a Tata-Airbus consortium at a plant in Vadodara in the next six years at a rate of eight aircraft per year.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/aviation-sector-has-an-engine-trouble-go-first-crisis-is-a-precursor-1215775.html" target="_blank">Aviation sector has an engine trouble. Go First crisis is a precursor</a></strong></p>.<p>The C295 assembly line being built in Gujarat is the first large Make-in-India defence programme in the private sector that is likely to create an aviation ecosystem involving a large number of companies for manufacturing, assembly, testing, delivery and maintenance of the aircraft.</p>.<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October laid the foundation stone of the manufacturing plant at Vadodara. As a part of the manufacturing process, 13,400 detail parts, 4,600 sub-assemblies, and all the seven major component assemblies - outer wings, centre wing box, nose fuselage, centre fuselage, rear fuselage, empennage (tail assembly) and doors would be made in India.</p>
<p>The first Airbus-made C295 transport aircraft for India has successfully flown its maiden flight, marking a significant milestone towards its delivery to the Indian Air Force by the second half of 2023.</p>.<p>The first aircraft took off from an Airbus facility at Seville in Spain last Friday and flew for three hours, the company said in a press statement on Monday. The C295 fleet will replace the ageing Avros being flown by the IAF.</p>.<p>The defence ministry in September 2021 signed a Rs 22,000-crore contract with Airbus to buy 56 C295 aircraft, of which 16 aircraft will arrive in fly-away condition between September 2023 and August 2025. The remaining 40 planes would be manufactured by a Tata-Airbus consortium at a plant in Vadodara in the next six years at a rate of eight aircraft per year.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/aviation-sector-has-an-engine-trouble-go-first-crisis-is-a-precursor-1215775.html" target="_blank">Aviation sector has an engine trouble. Go First crisis is a precursor</a></strong></p>.<p>The C295 assembly line being built in Gujarat is the first large Make-in-India defence programme in the private sector that is likely to create an aviation ecosystem involving a large number of companies for manufacturing, assembly, testing, delivery and maintenance of the aircraft.</p>.<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October laid the foundation stone of the manufacturing plant at Vadodara. As a part of the manufacturing process, 13,400 detail parts, 4,600 sub-assemblies, and all the seven major component assemblies - outer wings, centre wing box, nose fuselage, centre fuselage, rear fuselage, empennage (tail assembly) and doors would be made in India.</p>
