India, May 15 -- Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal AK Bharti will on Friday review the progress of the C295 transport aircraft programme as the Indian Air Force (IAF) gears up to receive the first Made-in-India aircraft in the next few months, officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.

Bharti will on Friday visit the Tata Aircraft Complex in Vadodara where 40 C295s will be assembled over the next five years, marking a watershed in the country's private sector that is producing a military plane for the first time, said an official cited above.

In September 2021, the defence ministry signed a Rs.21,935-crore contract with Airbus for 56 planes to boost self-reliance in defence. Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus are j...