Airbus Group to make a mark at Defexpo 2016 with its 'Make in India' programmes

NEW DELHI: The highlight of Airbus Group's participation in Defexpo 2016 will be the ‘Make in India’ programmes that it is pursuing, said the company in an official press release.

These programmes include the IAF’s Avro replacement programme where Airbus Group has bid to produce the C295W in India together with Tata Advanced Systems as well as its partnership with Mahindra Defence to produce military helicopters locally.

In pic: AS565MBe Panther

“We are at the forefront of the ‘Make in India’ initiative,” said Pierre de Bausset, President & Managing Director, Airbus Group India. “We will use Defexpo to present our plans to produce defence 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.”

"Visitors to the Airbus Group stand will find scale models of the C295W as well as the military helicopters H125M Fennec, AS565MBe Panther and the EC725 (now marketed as the H225M). In addition, there will be scale models of the SPEXER border/ coastal surveillance radar, a land based Electro Optical Targeting System (EOTS), ARGOS II and GOSHAWK II airborne observation systems, MUSS self-protection system against guided ammunition for battlefield vehicles and ALTAS-2QB hostile laser warners," said the release.

The release said, "Selection process for the C295W medium transport aircraft is ongoing. This highly versatile 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."

Defence Expo which is supposed to take place in Goa from March 28 to March 31.