First Indian Air Force C295MW painted
On 18 April 2023, the first Airbus Defence C295MW medium tactical transport aircraft for the Bharatiya Vayu Sena (IAF, Indian Air Force) emerged from the paintshop.
The C295MW, construction number 209, was first noted at the Airbus Defence facility at Sevilla/San Pablo in May 2022. Early April 2023, the transporter succesfully finished the first engine runs. Its future serial is not known yet.
In September 2021, Scramble Magazine reported that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) cleared the large defence deal with the procurement of 56 Airbus C295MW transport aircraft to replace the current fleet of BAe748. Sixteen aircraft will be bought off-the-shelf and forty will be manufactured in India at the new Airbus-Tata consortium (Tata Advanced Systems Ltd - TASL) facility at Vadodara in the state of Gujarat.
In May 2015, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the deal with the lone bid of the Airbus-Tata consortium (TASL) to replace the current fleet of BAe748 aircraft with 56 C295 transport aircraft. An additional six C295MPA Maritime Patrol Aircraft (Indian Coast Guard) were added to the acquisition. On 8 September 2021, the Indian Government cleared the large defence deal with the procurement of the Airbus C295MW transport aircraft. As far as Scramble Magazine is aware, the CCS has not yet approved the additional six aircraft for the Coast Guard.
The aircraft build at Sevilla/San Pablo (Spain) will be supplied in two years, and the deliveries of the locally-assembled aircraft will be spread over an additional eight years.
Photo by Airbus Defence and Space