Archive · 16 Aug 2026
India Launches Mega Tender to Replace Aging AN-32 Fleet
India's Air Force has some very old planes that move soldiers and supplies.
These planes are called AN-32s, and they have been flying for about 40 years.
They worked hard carrying soldiers, dropping supplies by parachute, helping during floods and earthquakes, and feeding troops in cold mountains.
But they are getting too old, and fixing them has become very hard.
India tried to upgrade some of them with help from Ukraine, but that work stopped because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
So India has decided to buy brand-new planes instead.
The government has announced a big plan to buy 60 new transport planes.
Companies from America, Brazil and Europe are competing for the job.
Most of the new planes must be built inside India, which will create jobs and make India stronger.
Indian companies like Tata and Mahindra will help build them.
The new planes will also carry army vehicles like tanks and big guns to faraway places.
It is a very big and exciting project for India's future.
The Government of India has floated a tender worth about one lakh crore rupees for sixty multi-role transport aircraft to modernise the Indian Air Force's transport fleet.
The Russian-origin Antonov AN-32 has been the backbone of medium transport work for nearly 40 years, with around 125 aircraft joining service from 1984 onwards.
A 2009 upgrade agreement with Ukraine for 105 AN-32s could not be completed after the Russia-Ukraine conflict began in 2014, leaving the fleet only partly modernised.
Three aircraft are competing for the deal: the Lockheed Martin C-130, the Embraer C-390 Millennium and the Airbus A400M.
India's Tata has partnered with Lockheed Martin for the C-130, Mahindra with Embraer for the C-390, while Airbus is prepared to build the A400M in India.
Only twelve aircraft will arrive in fly-away condition, while the remaining forty-eight must be built on Indian soil with indigenous content fixed at sixty per cent.
- Who
- The Government of India and the Indian Air Force, with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, private Indian companies such as Tata and Mahindra, and foreign manufacturers Lockheed Martin, Embraer and Airbus.
- What
- A tender worth about one lakh crore rupees for sixty multi-role transport aircraft to replace the ageing AN-32 fleet.
- When
- The tender has now been floated; the programme began in 2022 when the Air Force issued a Request for Information, and the AN-32s joined service from 1984 onwards.
- Where
- India, with forty-eight of the sixty aircraft to be built on Indian soil, including a new factory in Vadodara already making C-295 aircraft.
- Why
- The AN-32 fleet is ageing, only partly modernised and increasingly hard to maintain, so the Air Force decided a full replacement is needed while advancing the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat goals.
- Tender value
- About one lakh crore rupees
- Aircraft sought
- 60 multi-role transport aircraft
- Payload requirement
- 18 to 30 tonnes
- Fly-away aircraft
- 12
- Indian-built aircraft
- 48
- Indigenous content
- 60 per cent
- AN-32 fleet size
- Around 125, in service since 1984
- Contenders
- Lockheed Martin C-130, Embraer C-390 Millennium, Airbus A400M
- AN-32 upgrade agreement
- 2009 deal with Ukraine for 105 aircraft, incomplete