Airbus Eyes Big Chunk of Defence Airspace

Global aeronautics major Airbus will have a major presence at Defexpo 2016 scheduled to be held in South Goa between March 28 and 31.

The highlight of the Group’s participation will be the ‘Make in India’ programs that it is pursuing. These include the Indian Air Force’s Avro replacement programme where Airbus Group has bid to produce the C295W in India together with Tata Advanced Systems. It will also partner Mahindra Defence to produce military helicopters locally, said a company press release here on Wednesday.

“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,” said Pierre de Bausset, president & managing director, Airbus Group India on Wednesday. “This would involve creation of thousands of local jobs, skilling people, and technology absorption.” At the expo, Airbus will showcase scale models of C295W, and military helicopters such as H125M Fennec, AS565MBe Panther and the EC725 (now marketed as the H225M).

The selection process for the C295W medium transport aircraft is in process. To date, Airbus has delivered 144 out of 165 C295s on order, and it is in service in 20 countries, the press release said.

The AS565 MBe Panther will fulfil Indian Navy’s requirements of 100 units of Naval Utility Helicopter. It is an all-weather, multi-role light helicopter that can be operated from ship decks or offshore to cover a vast array of naval missions — such as maritime surveillance, search and rescue, casualty evacuation, vertical replenishment, offshore patrolling, counter-terrorism. The H125M Fennec is foreseen as the Indian Army and Air Force’s Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter, of which 400 units are needed. The EC725 is under selection process for the Indian Coast Guard’s 14 shore-based helicopter tender, and is also suited for the Navy’s 120+ Naval Multi-Role Helicopter programme, the release said.