The Indian Ministry of Defence issued a request for proposals on August 12, 2026, for 60 medium transport aircraft, formally opening a competition estimated at roughly 1 trillion rupees ($10.5 billion) and setting up a contest between Lockheed Martin’s C-130J and Embraer’s C-390 Millennium.
The tender went to five Indian companies: Tata Advanced Systems, Mahindra, Adani Defence and Aerospace, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Reliance Defence. Each is expected to bring a foreign manufacturer into its bid.
C-130J and C-390 emerge as first contenders
Two pairings are already public. Tata Advanced Systems signed a teaming agreement with Lockheed Martin on September 10, 2024, to offer the C-130J-30 Super Hercules, while Mahindra has worked with Embraer on the C-390 since a memorandum of understanding signed in New Delhi on February 9, 2024. The other three have not identified partners.
India’s Defence Acquisition Council granted Acceptance of Necessity for the program on March 27, 2026, describing the aircraft as a replacement for the An-32 and Il-76 fleets. The requirement covers a payload class of 18 to 30 tons, which places the C-130J-30 near the bottom of the band at about 19 tons and the C-390 near the top at 26 tons. Airbus had previously offered the A400M, though at roughly 37 tons the aircraft sits above the stated ceiling.
Most aircraft to be built in India
An initial tranche will arrive in flyaway condition, with the remainder built in India. The winning pair will be required to stand up a final assembly line and maintenance capability in the country, a condition Embraer and Mahindra anticipated in February 2026 when they announced plans for an Indian C-390 maintenance facility. Reported indigenous content figures diverge, with some accounts citing a 40% floor rising in phases and others putting the target above 60%. The tender document has not been published.
Requirement reduced from 80 aircraft to 60
The original request for information covered up to 80 aircraft, the figure Lockheed Martin cited when it announced its Tata agreement. The RFP covers 60, with an option for further aircraft.
Bids will pass through technical evaluation and then field trials, which for this requirement means high-altitude and semi-prepared strips including the Advanced Landing Grounds in Ladakh and the northeast.
India has assembled military transports domestically before, though on a smaller airframe. Tata Advanced Systems and Airbus opened a C-295 final assembly line at Vadodara in October 2024, covering 40 of the 56 aircraft ordered. The MTA program would apply that model to an aircraft roughly three times heavier.