[TusharK]

French aerospace giant, Airbus, plans to build H125 helicopters in India.

In a major boost to India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat goals, Airbus will partner with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) to set up an assembly line for H125 helicopters. The first made-in-India helicopter is expected to roll out in 2026.



Olivier Michalon, Executive Vice President of Global Business of Airbus Helicopters, said, “We have identified eight sites, which we are currently assessing…we are still in the final assessment stage, but stay tuned, we should be in a position to announce shortly.”

Michalon did not reveal the sites that are being considered for the new plant. However, he did mention that the ground-breaking ceremony could be held around October-November this year.

The plant will have an initial capacity of 10 helicopters per year, which could be increased to 50 units in the coming years.

“I know 10 doesn’t sound like a lot, but starting from scratch, it is not negligible. It could very well be 20, 30, or 50 in some years, depending on the market demand,” Michalon said.

Airbus estimates the demand for H125 class helicopters in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives to be around 500 units over the next 20 years. Currently, around 350 helicopters are operating in the civil and para-public space in the region, of which 250 are in India. Of the 140 Airbus helicopters in the region, 100 are in India.

The Airbus H125 is a single-engine helicopter. It can carry up to 7 people, including the pilot. The H125 can cruise at 136 knots and has a range of 340 NM. It is well suited for applications such as aerial work, firefighting, law enforcement, rescue, air ambulance, passenger transport and more.

Source: Indian Express

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[dsuman]

This Great News!

By Assembly I believe they are referring to Importing CKD Kits and Assembling them. Some start is always good. I hope Airbus and Tata partnership sees success and they plan to manufacture parts in India and build more models of Helicopters. Exciting next Decade or so for Manufacturing.

[bijims]

Tata is doing great business lately, getting collabs from a wide range of partners globally, good for them and for our country too!

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by TusharK

In a major boost to India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat goals, Airbus will partner with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) to set up an assembly line for H125 helicopters. The first made-in-India helicopter is expected to roll out in 2026.

The words "Atmanirbhar," "Made in India" and "Make in India" are so misleading and grossly misused in our country that I think there needs to be a law defining their exact meaning and explaining when and how these terms can be used. Undertaking kit assembly in India of a helicopter designed and produced in Europe shouldn't qualify as atmanirbhar or made-in-India in my very humble opinion.

We have a much better example of atmanirbharta when it comes to helicopter manufacturing and that is HAL's LUH which is designed, developed and manufactured in India (notwithstanding many foreign components) and which can be a direct competitor to H125. Competition is always good for the market and I'm sure HAL is watching this development carefully. HAL must try obtaining civil certification for LUH so that the Indian customer has a choice. Given that HAL already has large orders for the LUH, it can reap much better economies of scale than Airbus-Tata and offer the LUH civil version at a competitive price to Indian as well as foreign customers.

Pics of LUH below: