The Defence Acqusition Council (DAC) once again deferred the decision on Tata-Airbus Defence and Space partnership for jointly producing the Airbus C295 medium transport to replace the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) fleet of 56 Avro aircraft. This is the second time DAC has deferred the decision on the deal.
The defence ministry sources said, “The DAC meeting headed by defence minister Manohar Parrikar sought more details on the partnership and the programme of production. It has sought an expert briefing by the IAF for this proposal.”
This is the second time DAC has deferred the decision as it is now a case of single vendor, and to clear a single vendor proposal would require an indepth understanding of the urgency to give clearance. Sources said there are chances a fresh RfP could be issued for this programme.
Only Airbus Defence and Space and Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) consortium had bid in response to a MoD tender that closed on October 22. The Airbus-Tata consortium has proposed to build the Airbus C295 medium-transport aircraft.
If the proposal is cleared, the first 16 aircraft will come in ‘fly-away’ condition from Airbus’ final assembly line. The remaining 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled by Tata Advanced Systems in India.
The ‘Request for Proposal’ (RfP) for Avro Aircraft Replacement was issued by the IAF for procurement of 56 aircraft in May 2013 and has been extended several times, seeking responses from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with participation from only Indian private Industry. In an effort to develop private sector in the area of aircraft manufacturing, the government had cleared the proposal for replacement of 56 Avro transport aircraft of IAF under “buy and make” route.
Foreign OEMs were required to identify an Indian partner other than PSU, supply initial 16 aircraft from their original facilities and provide technology transfer for manufacture of rest 40 aircraft by the Indian partner. Foreign OEM, however, would be the main contractor as the contract for 56 aircraft is required to be signed between the OEM and IAF, while the Indian partner would only be a vendor to the foreign OEM.
