BeechTalk - BT - Airbus H125 Helicopters to be Assembled in India

Username Protected · **Posted:** 26 Jan 2024, 21:13

And no, this is not the Babylon Bee. :crazy:

Quote:

New Delhi, In a major boost to ‘Make in India’, Airbus Helicopters has announced that it is partnering with the Tata Group to establish a Final Assembly Line (FAL) for helicopters in the country. The FAL will produce Airbus’ best-selling H125 helicopter from its civil range for India and export to some of the neighbouring countries.

The FAL will be the first instance of the private sector setting up a helicopter manufacturing facility in India, providing a major boost to the Government of India’s 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) programme. Under this partnership, Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), a subsidiary of Tata Group, will set up the facility along with Airbus Helicopters.

The announcement was made during the two-day visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to India as Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

The FAL in India will undertake the integration of the major component assemblies, avionics and mission systems, installation of electrical harnesses, hydraulic circuits, flight controls, dynamic components, fuel system and the engine. It will also do testing, qualification, and delivery of the H125 to customers in India and the region. The FAL will take 24 months to set up and deliveries of the first ‘Made in India’ H125s are expected to commence in 2026. The location of the FAL will be jointly decided by Airbus and the Tata Group.

More here:
https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/pres ... helicopter

Dave

Username Protected · **Posted:** 26 Jan 2024, 23:16

Considering that only USSR, U.S.A., China, and India landed probes on the Moon successfully, I'm sure they can manage putting copters together from knock-down kits.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 27 Jan 2024, 11:44

This is an EXTREMELY common practice, particularly as an element in foreign government or military purchases. The purchase contract value has to be offset by in-country industrial benefits. That means the vendor of the very expensive equipment (helicopters, airplanes, tanks, that sort of thing) has to build an assembly plant in-country.

Just about every major US military supplier has done this with most if not all of their current foreign military / government equipment sales. It's just how business is done, how countries try to get some in-country benefit from large capital-intensive foreign equipment purchases.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 27 Jan 2024, 13:52

I think the Indian people are great and very smart..

Username Protected · **Posted:** 01 Feb 2024, 09:01

As mentioned, nothing new here with this practice, Pipers built in Argentina, Brazil, Cessnas in France, Bell helicopters in Japan, Italy, etc. In some of those examples the aircraft produced in other countries are not eligible for import into the U.S. I wonder if that will be the case with the Airbus also.