Airbus plans to discharge its C295 defence offset obligations in India by building on its existing commercial aerospace partnerships in the country. Pictured is an artist's impression of what India's C295 will look like. (Airbus)
Airbus is looking to leverage its extensive commercial aerospace engagements in India to deliver on the offset obligations linked to its contract to supply 56 C295 MW medium transport aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
An Airbus spokesperson told Janes that its existing industrial partnerships in the country on platforms such as the A320 and A350 jet airliners will support defence offset work on the ordered military aircraft.
The European aerospace group is delivering the C295s through a contract signed with the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 24 September. The deal is estimated to be worth about INR210 billion (USD2.85 billion).
In announcing the contract, the MoD said it had also signed an offset deal with Airbus through which the company will “discharge its offset obligations through [the] direct purchase of eligible products and services from Indian offset partners”.
The Airbus spokesperson confirmed that the contract was executed under India's Defence Procurement Procedure 2011 (DPP 2011). This procurement policy allows offsets to be discharged through work not only on eligible defence products including aircraft, but also on products for internal security and civilian aerospace.
Despite that, the spokesperson said that, on the C295 programme, Airbus' offset work will be focused on defence products. In undertaking this work, Airbus plans to discharge the offsets by leveraging “some of the competencies existing in the commercial aviation environment”, said the spokesperson.
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