PM Modi, Spanish premier inaugurate Tata-Airbus facility to manufacture C-295 military aircraft in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sánchez on Monday jointly inaugurated the TATA Aircraft Complex to manufacture C-295 aircraft at the Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) facility in Vadodara.

The C-295 aircraft program, initiated under a $2.5 billion contract between India and Airbus, entails the production of 56 tactical aircraft to replace the Indian Air Force’s aging Avro fleet. Of these, 16 will be delivered directly from Spain, with the remaining 40 being manufactured domestically at TASL’s Vadodara facility. This production line marks a historic achievement as India’s first private sector Final Assembly Line (FAL) for military aircraft.

"This is my friend Pedro Sánchez's first visit to India,” said Modi during the inauguration. “Today, we are giving a new direction to the India-Spain partnership. This factory will strengthen India-Spain relations and support the 'Make in India, Make for the World' mission."

Modi said the defence manufacturing ecosystem in India has reached unprecedented levels, crediting reforms that expanded private-sector participation and bolstered the efficiency of public-sector defence units.

“If we had not taken concrete steps 10 years ago, it would have been impossible to reach this level today,” Modi said, adding that key moves—such as converting ordinance factories into seven large corporations and establishing defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu—have significantly energized India’s defence sector.

Tata Advanced Systems Ltd will oversee manufacturing, testing, and lifecycle management, while leading public defence units like Bharat Electronics Ltd. and Bharat Dynamics Ltd., along with private SMEs, will provide essential components and services.

Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez hailed the project as a testament to international collaboration. “Today we are not only officially inaugurating a cutting edge industrial facility. Today we're also witnessing how an extraordinary project between two emblematic companies becomes a reality,” he said.

Sánchez lauded Modi’s vision to transform India into an industrial powerhouse and expressed confidence that the Airbus-Tata collaboration would pave the way for other European companies to invest in India’s aerospace sector.

“Prime Minister Modi, this is another triumph of your vision. Your vision is to turn India into an industrial powerhouse and a magnet for investment and business. This partnership between Airbus and Tata will contribute to the progress of the Indian aerospace industry and will open new doors for the arrival of other European companies,” he said.

“This project brings together the best of two worlds,” Sánchez noted, citing Tata as a “giant among giants” and a symbol of Indian industrial strength.

“For my country, for Spain, being an integral part of the Airbus consortium, defending the values it represents. Values on which the very idea of Europe is based on cooperation, modernity and progress,” he added.

Highlighting the historical connection between the two nations, Sánchez drew parallels to a musical collaboration between Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía and Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar in the 1960s.

“Perhaps they did not know it then, but they were building a bridge between cultures that would open the way to the future,” Sánchez said, adding that the Vadodara plant is now a modern symbol of this “close and growing” friendship.

The production facility is expected to deliver its first aircraft by 2026, with Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran pledging that the first locally manufactured C-295 will be ready within two years. “Exactly two years from now, we will deliver the first indigenously manufactured aircraft,” Chandrasekaran said, requesting that the prime minister inaugurate the facility’s first aircraft rollout.

Chandrasekaran acknowledged the vision of former Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata, who initiated the project with Airbus over a decade ago. "This project was originally conceived more than a decade ago, in 2012, by Ratan Tata Ji," he said, recognizing Tata’s foundational role in the partnership with Airbus. Chandrasekaran also noted the training of 200 Tata engineers in Spain and the involvement of 40 local SMEs, with more partnerships planned to further indigenize production.

Capable of operating from short, unprepared airstrips, the C-295 aircraft can perform a range of missions, from transporting troops and supplies to medical evacuation. Airbus has a longstanding relationship with India’s civil aviation sector, and this defence project opens a new chapter in its involvement with India’s aerospace and defence industry.