Defence and aerospace are two pillars to make India Aatmanirbhar, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the defence and aerospace sectors will be two important pillars for making India ‘Aatmanirbhar’ as he launched the Rs 21,935 crore Tata-Airbus plane manufacturing joint venture at Vadodara in Gujarat.

The Prime Minister said C295 plane manufacturing facility has the power to transform the country’s defence and transport sectors. He pointed out that it is for the first time that this big investment is taking place in the Indian Defence sector. Transport aircraft, manufactured at the facility, will not only strengthen the Armed Forces but also help in developing a new ecosystem of aircraft manufacturing.

“Vadodara, which is famous as a cultural and education centre, will develop a new identity as an aviation sector hub,” he said.

The Prime Minister expressed happiness about the fact that more than 100 MSMEs are also associated with the project. He said the promise of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ will gain new push from this land as the project will be able to take orders for export to other countries in the future.

“By 2025, our defence manufacturing scale would cross USD25 billion. Defence corridors being established in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu would power this scale,” PM Modi said.

PM Modi stressed that the country is moving forward with the aim of being the frontrunner in every field.

“From semi-conductor to aircraft, we are moving forward with the aim to be the frontrunner in every field. It is being possible because we have focussed on skill development in the last eight years and prepared an atmosphere for it,” he said.

Noting that India is one of the “fastest-developing aviation sectors” today, the Prime Minister said that the country will soon enter the list of top three nations in terms of air traffic.

The Prime Minister stated that India will need more than 2000 aircraft in the next 15 years. The Prime Minister pointed out that today is a crucial step in this direction.

The Prime Minister attributed the progressive steps being taken across sectors to the “change of mindset”, and said that the previous governments’ mindset “didn’t let the private sector grow”.

“Previous governments also had the mindset to avoid problems and keep alive manufacturing sector with a few subsidies. This thinking led to a loss in India’s manufacturing sector. Neither was there a solid policy, nor responsibility over the need for logistics, and electricity/water supply. The India of today is working with a new mindset and new work culture. We have let go of ‘Kaam-chalau’ decisions,” he pointed out.

PM Modi highlighted that the country is managing the service sectors along with flourishing the manufacturing sector today.

“Earlier there was also a mindset that India cannot do well in manufacturing, so it should focus on service sector. Today we are managing the service sector and making the manufacturing sector flourish,” he said.

Apart from making 40 aircraft, this facility at Vadodara would be manufacturing additional aircraft for Air Force requirements and exports,

With the launch of the C295 aircraft manufacturing facility, India will enter an exclusive league of a dozen nations with the capacity to manufacture military transport aircraft. -Currently, the US, Japan, UK, Russia, France, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Brazil, China, and Japan have that capacity.

Tata-Airbus combine had said that C-295 manufacturing is “the first Make in India aerospace programme in the private sector involving the full development of a complete industrial ecosystem; from manufacture to assembly, test and qualification, to delivery and maintenance of the complete lifecycle of the aircraft.

Under the terms of the deal, 16 C-295 aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between September 2023 and August 2025 in flyaway condition, while the remaining 40 aircraft will be manufactured at the Vadodara facility.

In another first, “indigenous content in the planes will be the highest ever in India, and 96 per cent of the work that Airbus does in Spain will now be done at the new facility.”

The Vadodara facility will be initially geared to manufacture 8 aircraft per year, but it has been designed such that it can also cater to the additional needs of Indian armed forces or exports.

As per Defence Ministry, following the delivery of 56 aircraft to IAF, the combine will be allowed to sell India-built C295 aircraft to civil operators and to countries cleared by the government.

The new planes will replace the old Avro planes of the 1960 generation that the IAF now uses for their transportation needs.