The first C-295 medium tactical transport aircraft landed in Vadodara on Wednesday, days after it was handed over to the Indian Air Force in the southern Spanish city of Seville.
The aircraft would be formally inducted into the IAF at a ceremony in Hindon near Delhi on September 25.
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on September 13 received the first of the 56 C295 transport aircraft two years after India sealed a Rs 21,935-crore deal with Airbus Defence and Space to procure the jets to replace its ageing Avro--748 fleet.
"The IAF's first C-295 MW aircraft landed in Vadodara today. The aircraft would be handed over to the #IAF in a formal ceremony on 25 Sep 23 at AF Stn Hindon by the Honourable Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh," the IAF tweeted.
Under the deal, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in 'fly-away' condition from its final assembly line in Seville by 2025 and the subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled by Tata Advanced Systems in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies.
The production of components of these aircraft has already started in the Main Constituent Assembly facility in Hyderabad. -- PTI