aircraft in 1985. By 2014, a total of 125 Dornier 228s had been produced in India. Over the years, Dornier offered the 228 in upgraded variants and fitted with optional equipment for performing various special missions. In 1996, it was announced that all manufacturing operations would be transferred to India. In 1998, activity on the German production line was halted, in part to concentrate on the production of the larger Fairchild-Dornier 328 and in response to Dornier's wider financial difficulties. Dornier 228NG In 2002, RUAG took over the Services and Components divisions from Fairchild Dornier, including the Dornier 228 production rights. RUAG acquired the Dornier 228 type certificate in 2003. In December 2007, RUAG announced their intention to launch a modernized version of the aircraft, designated as the Dornier 228 Next Generation, or Dornier 228 NG. At the 2008 Berlin Air Show, HAL agreed on supplying the first three components sets — fuselage, wings and tail — for €5 million, as a part of an €80 million ($123 million) ten-year contract. In June 2010, the passenger aircraft was priced at €5.2 million ($7 million), €5.8–5.9 million with JAR-Ops equipment; restarting its production cost €20 million. On 18 August 2010, the Dornier 228NG received its airworthiness certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The final assembly for the type is located in Germany; however, most airframe subassemblies, such as the wings, tail and fuselage, are produced by HAL in India. The main changes from the previous Dornier 228-212 model were a new five-blade propeller made of composite material, more powerful engines and an advanced glass cockpit featuring electronic instrument displays and other avionics improvements. The first delivery, to the Japanese operator New Central Aviation, took place in September 2010. RUAG decided to suspend production of the Dornier 228 NG after the completion of an initial batch of eight aircraft in 2013. In 2014, RUAG and Tata Group signed an agreement for the latter to become a key supplier of the program. Production was restarted in 2015, with deliveries of four per year planned from 2016. In February 2016, RUAG announced that they were set to begin serial production of the Dornier 228 NG at its German production line in mid-2016; the assembly line is reportedly capable of producing a maximum of 12 aircraft per year. On 30 September 2020, US firm General Atomics bought the Dornier 228 production line in