Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday virtually inaugurated the Final Assembly Line (FAL) for H125 helicopters in Vemagal Industrial Area in Kolar, Karnataka (near Bengaluru). This is India’s first private-sector helicopter manufacturing facility, and will initially produce 10 H125 helicopters annually, serving both domestic needs and export markets in neighbouring countries.
The plant will initially produce 10 H125 helicopters per year, with the potential to scale up to meet a projected demand of 500 units over the next 20 years. The first "Made in India" H125 is expected to take off from this facility by early 2027.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and French Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin are attending the ceremony in person at the facility as part of the India-France Annual Defence Dialogue. While Tuesday’s spotlight is on helicopters, the partnership is also reaching a critical phase in its fixed-wing operations.
The first "Made in India" C295 military transport aircraft is expected to roll out of the Vadodara facility by September 2026. Out of the 56 aircraft ordered by the IAF, 16 have already been delivered from Spain. The remaining 40 are being manufactured in India.
The project has already onboarded 37 Indian suppliers, with roughly 70 per cent of components being sourced domestically. The H125 is a world-renowned single-engine helicopter famous for its "hot and high" performance (it holds the record for landing on Mt. Everest).
It will be used for civil missions, emergency services, and tourism. Plans are already in motion to produce the H125M (the military version) at this same site to support the Indian Armed Forces. The defence experts said that the dual-track partnership (C295 in Gujarat and H125 in Karnataka) is a central pillar of India's "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" (self-reliant India) initiative in the aerospace sector.
This collaboration is expected to create over 10,000 jobs and establish a comprehensive ecosystem for high-tech manufacturing, from precision parts to final flight testing.