Airbus Competes With Four Different Aircraft and Helicopters on Five Indian Tenders

The Airbus Group has submitted the C295W light transport plane to the Indian AIr Force, as part of its teaming agreement with Tata Advanced Systems. The group also proposes different helicopters to be manufactured by Mahindra Defence. At Defexpo Airbus highlights three helicopter models competing to win different Indian programs – H125M Fennec, AS565MBe Panther and EC725 (marketed here as the H225M).

“We use Defexpo to present our plans to produce defense platforms in India and basically ‘build an industrial eco-system’ supporting it in collaboration with local partners. This would involve creation of thousands of local jobs, skilling people, technology absorption, etc.” said Pierre de Bausset, President & Managing Director, Airbus Group India.

The selection process for the C295W medium transport aircraft is ongoing. The aircraft is proven around the world as a tough, reliable and high-performance workhorse with outstanding lifecycle costs and excellent performance on short or unpaved runways. To date, 144 C295s have been delivered out of 165 on order and it is in service in 20 countries.

Airbus is proposing Panther helicopter for the Indian Navy’s Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) program calling for the deployment of around 100 all-weather capable helicopters on board ships and offshore, on maritime surveillance missions, search and rescue, casualty evacuation, vertical replenishment, offshore patrolling and counter-terrorism.

The H125M Fennec is foreseen for the Indian Army’s and Air Force’s Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter (RSH) need of around 400 units. The H225M is under selection process for the Indian Coast Guard’s 14 shore-based helicopter tender. It will also answer the future requirement of the Indian Navy 120+ Naval Multi-Role helicopters under the (NMRH) program.