In the middle of May last year, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) cleared the lone bid of the Tata-Airbus consortium for the Airbus C295 twin-turboprop military transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in response to the tender floated two years before. The C295 is meant to replace the ageing fleet of the Hawker Siddeley HS-748 Avro twin-turboprop aircraft in service with the IAF since the early 1960s. Of the total order for 56 C295 aircraft, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Airbus is to supply 16 directly from the company in fly-away condition and the remaining 40 are to be built in India by it in collaboration with an Indian partner, Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL). The contract is valued at around Rs. 12,000 crore and this aircraft will be the first to be built in the private sector of the Indian aerospace industry.

Brief History of the Avro Aircraft

The HS-748 Avro is a medium-sized transport aircraft with a payload capacity of around five tonnes. The aircraft is powered by two turboprop engines. It was originally designed by the British firm Avro in the late 1950s as a replacement for the ageing Dakota DC-3 twin piston-engine transport aircraft. The first HS-748 undertook its maiden flight in June 1960 and thereafter a total of 380 aircraft were built by the British aerospace company Hawker Siddeley. Production of the aircraft in the UK came to an end in 1988.

The Avro was selected for the IAF in a competition against two other platforms namely the Handley Page Herald and the F-27 Fokker Friendship. Following contractual agreements in 1959, assembly of the Avro aircraft for the IAF commenced at its newly established Aircraft Manufacturing Depot at Chakeri in Kanpur. This unit became a part of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in October 1964. The first Avro aircraft assembled at the IAF unit in Kanpur took to the air in November 1961. Subsequently, induction of the aircraft into the IAF began in 1964 and in all, a total of 89 aircraft were built in India by HAL of which 17 were taken over and operated by the domestic carrier Indian Airlines for feeder services. The remaining were operated by the IAF and the paramilitary forces. Today around 50 remain in service with the IAF. The Avro fleet has been employed primarily for carriage of troops, communication duties, logistic support tasks and training of pilots and navigators on transport aircraft. Over the years, the IAF has lost four Avro aircraft in major accidents that involved large number of fatalities.

After operating the Avro for over four-and-a-half decades, the IAF initiated a case for the replacement of the ageing fleet. However, like most projects for procurement of military hardware, this project too has had its share of turmoil and turbulence albeit of lower intensity.

Travails of the Procurement Process

The IAF had commenced work on the plan to replace the Avro as early as in 2009. In a preliminary evaluation of the market, the IAF drew up a comprehensive list of all the transport aircraft with the payload capacity of six to eight tonnes available in the global market.

Based on the case put up by the IAF, a request for proposal (RFP) was issued by the MoD on May 8, 2013. The companies to receive the tender were Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Airbus Defence & Space, Antonov of Ukraine, Saab of Sweden, Ilyushin of Russia and Alenia Aeromacchi of Italy. The bids in response were required to be submitted by October 8, 2013. However, the deadline of submission was subsequently extended to December 8, 2013, and finally to March 8, 2014. The selected vendor was required to identify an Indian partner in the private sector of the Indian aerospace industry for manufacturing the aircraft in India. One notable feature of the tender document was that the Indian aerospace major HAL was excluded from participating in this project which was restricted to the private sector. The IAF was of the view that as HAL was already overburdened with projects and was finding it difficult to adhere to time lines; it would not be advisable to assign it another major project and further compound its difficulties. Besides, the IAF felt that the private sector of the Indian aerospace industry was mature enough to take on this project and the time had come to provide it an opportunity. It would also be a litmus test for the private sector that was eager to enter the market for military hardware. Thus the IAF sowed the seeds of the ‘Make in India’ philosophy that was to emerge two years later.

THE INDIAN AIR FORCE EFFECTIVELY SOWED THE SEEDS OF THE ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ PHILOSOPHY THAT WAS TO EMERGE TWO YEARS LATER

The first salvo against the proposal was fired by Praful Patel, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, who protested against the decision to exclude the defence public sector undertaking HAL which was the only organisation that had the capability and track record of manufacturing aircraft even if it was merely under licensed production. His reaction was not surprising as by virtue of the appointment he was holding, he had no option but to bat for HAL.

The second and certainly more potent objection came from the most unexpected quarters, from none other than Manohar Parrikar, the Minister of Defence, who had moved into this chair recently after taking over from Arun Jaitley who was the first to hold the appointment after the Modi-led NDA Government came into power. By this time, a bid from Airbus had been received offering the C295 to be manufactured in India in collaboration with TASL. TASL was already manufacturing the airframe of Sikorsky helicopters at its facility in Hyderabad. Incidentally, the Tata-Airbus consortium was the only one to respond to the global tender floated in 2013 for transport aircraft. The MoD also questioned the wide variation between the parameters of operational capability between the Avro and the C295 and as to why the IAF should bid for aircraft of substantially higher capability. Besides, the MoD was also not clear as to why the IAF needed to acquire 56 new tactical airlifters, given its large fleet of upgraded An-32, C-130J Super Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III. These concerns were laid to rest through appropriate interaction between Air Headquarters and the MoD.

The fact that the Tata-Airbus consortium was the lone bidder, gave rise to the third and a more serious impediment which was the ‘single-vendor’ situation. Under the Defence Procurement Procedure in vogue at that time, a single-vendor situation was taboo and it could well have led to cancellation of the tender altogether. Fortunately, better sense prevailed and the lone bid was accepted and given due clearance in May 2015 to move forward.

Qualitative Change for the IAF

Described as the most capable and versatile platform, the C295 is a new generation, twin-turboprop, medium tactical transport aircraft manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space in Spain. With around 150 aircraft in different variants currently being operated by the armed forces of around 20 nations across the world, the aircraft has proved to be robust, reliable, cost-effective and an outstanding workhorse. With high-wing and rear loading configuration, the aircraft is ideal for tasks in the domain of the military. With a pressurised cabin, it can cruise at altitudes up to 25,000 ft, while retaining the capability of short take-off from and landing on unprepared short, soft and rough airstrips.

With a maximum take-off weight of 23,200 kg, cruise speed of 480 kmph and range of 1,300 km at maximum payload, it takes 71 troops or a payload of 9,250 kg. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127G turboprop engines, the C295 provides excellent manoeuvrability, outstanding hot and high performance, low fuel consumption and consequently a very long endurance of up to 11 hours in the air. The aircraft is far superior to the HS-748 Avro it is to replace and its capabilities have been operationally validated through extensive employment in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as also in several other parts of the world.

An added advantage would be that this platform can also be used to replace the An-32 fleet in the event the Indo-Russian programme for the development of the medium-lift military transport aircraft (MTA) does not materialise. Its performance parameters are better than those of the An-32. Currently, the MTA programme appears to have hit a roadblock over issue concerning the power plant. As the C295 will be manufactured in India, enhancing numbers would not be an issue. In fact it would be welcome by the OEM. The C295 will indeed provide significant enhancement in the operational capability of the IAF in respect of its transport fleet.