Mahindra Defence Systems and Brazil's Embraer Defense & Security on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the objective of jointly fulfilling the acquisition of the C-390 Millennium multi-mission aircraft by the Indian Air Force in its upcoming medium transport aircraft (MTA) procurement project.

"India has a diverse and strong defence and aerospace industry and we have chosen Mahindra as our partner to jointly pursue the MTA programme," says Bosco da Costa Junior, president and CEO, Embraer Defense & Security. "India is a key market for Embraer and we fully support India’s ambitions for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. We see this partnership as a symbol of strengthening relations between Brazil and India and a way to foster Global South cooperation," he says.

Embraer and Mahindra will engage with the Indian Air Force to identify the next steps of the MTA programme, as well as contact the local aerospace industry in India to start developing the industrialisation plan for the project.

"We believe that this partnership will not only bolster the operational prowess of the Indian Air Force, but also provide an efficient industrialisation solution that aligns seamlessly with the objectives of Make in India," says Vinod Sahay, president, Aerospace & Defence Sector and Member of Group Executive Board, Mahindra.

The MoU was signed by Embraer Defense & Security and Mahindra Defence Systems, a 100% owned subsidiary of Mahindra, which focuses on armoured transport and security-related products including electronics.

Embraer has a presence in India across the fields of defence, commercial and executive aviation.

To date, the C-390 Millennium has been selected by Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic and most recently, South Korea.

The C-390 is capable of performing a wide range of missions such as transporting and dropping cargo and troops, medical evacuation, search and rescue, aerial firefighting, and humanitarian missions, operating on temporary or unpaved runways such as packed earth, soil, and gravel, the two companies say in a statement.

Both Embraer and Mahindra will explore the potential to turn India into a future hub of the C-390 aircraft for the region.

This comes a day after French aerospace major Airbus and Dynamatic Technologies joined hands to manufacture all doors for the single-aisle A220 family aircraft in India. This is the second contract for doors, awarded by Airbus to an Indian supplier.

Earlier in 2023, Airbus gave the contract for the manufacturing of bulk and cargo doors of the A320 Family to Tata Advanced Systems Ltd to collaborate on the replacement of the Indian Airforce's fleet of Avro-748 aircraft with reliable and robust Airbus C295 medium transport aircraft. The project, worth roughly $3 billion, entails supply of 56 aircraft to the Indian Airforce.

Airbus plans to double its procurement from India from $750 million to $1.5 billion. Earlier, Airbus had signed contracts with Aequs, Dynamatic, Gardner and Mahindra Aerospace for the supply of airframe and wing parts across Airbus’ A320neo, A330neo and A350 programmes.

C-390 Millennium

Embraer, Mahindra join hands for C-390 transport aircraft in India