TSAMTO, July 16. An event dedicated to the delivery of the "jubilee" 200th VTA C-295 aircraft to the customer was held at the Airbus Defense and Space (DS) company in San Pablo (Seville).
According to the information Infodefensa.com, the aircraft was transferred to the Canadian Air Force Command. It became the 8th of 16 ordered C-295W (national designation CC-295) under the contract signed in 2016. It is planned that in the near future the plane will fly to the Canadian Air Force base "Comox".
As reported by TSAMTO, on December 8, 2016, following the results of the tender, the Canadian Air Force Command concluded a contract with Airbus Defense & Space for the supply of 16 new search and rescue aircraft (FWSAR-Fixed – Wing Search And Rescue project) C-295W. The agreement also includes aircraft maintenance, personnel training, the supply of auxiliary equipment and simulators, and the construction of a new training center in Comox (British Columbia).
The aircraft are designed to replace the outdated CC-115 (DHC-5)" Buffalo "and CC-130H (C-130)" Hercules", whose service life is 20 and 40 years, respectively. The Canadian Air Force aircraft are supplied in the C295W modification with winglets and modified engines.
The cost of the 16 C-295W aircraft themselves, as well as five-year maintenance and related services after delivery is completed in 2022, is $ 2.4 billion. The option to provide maintenance and support services for 15 additional years increases the cost of the project to $ 4.7 billion. According to the schedule, the first aircraft was supposed to be delivered to the customer in 2019. The delivery should be completed in 2022. The FWSAR program allowed Canada to receive orders worth about $ 2.5 billion under compensation programs.
Flight tests of the first C-295W aircraft began in July 2019, but it arrived in Canada only in September 2020.
The delivered aircraft will be located in the same place where the search and rescue squadrons are currently located: in Comox (British Columbia), Winnipeg (Manitoba), Trenton (Ontario) and Greenwood (Nova Scotia). 5 C-295W aircraft will eventually be based at the Comox Air Force Base, where the new FWSAR training center will also be located. Three aircraft will be stationed in Winnipeg, Trenton and Greenwood. The remaining two C-295W will be moved depending on the need.
