New Delhi
A major and important news has come out about the aerospace sector in India. The country’s first private sector Air Force is going to be a helicopter assembly unit in Kolar district of Karnataka. The responsibility of setting up this unit has been given to the shared partnership of Airbus and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL). This project will strengthen the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government of India and is considered a big step in the direction of self -sufficient India in aerospace construction. The assembly line is being created by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and India’s leading aerospace company Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL). H125 civil helicopters will be built in this plant, which is Airbus’s best -selling lighter helicopter. This will be the first private sector helicopter assembly unit in India. Earlier, the helicopter assembly work was done only by public sector companies in India.
Where will this plant be built?
The plant will be built in the Vamgal Industrial Area in Kolar district of Karnataka, which is about two hours away from Bengaluru. There are already satellite construction and other aerospace units of Tata Group. The Tata Group has recently acquired a 7.4 lakh sqft plot for the project, with facilities of aircraft construction, final assembly and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul). The plant will initially manufacture 10 H125 helicopters every year. But as the demand increases, production capacity will also be increased. According to Airbus, 500 light helicopters will be needed in India and South Asia in the coming 20 years, given this plant to the future too.
What is the importance of this unit?
Make in India strong – indigenous construction will be encouraged.
New jobs opportunities – New employment will open for local youth.
AEQUS chairman and CEO Arvind Meligori says that the project will not only create jobs at the local level, but will also install India as an advanced industrial cluster.
Why did questions arise about Gujarat?
Significantly, Tata and Airbus are also setting up the C295 military aircraft assembly line in Vadodara (Gujarat) earlier. Along with this, Gujarat has also received large projects like semiconductor plant and diamond boors. For these reasons, opposition parties have accused the central government of giving special preference to Gujarat. However, this investment in Kolar is also expected to balance in South India.
