TSAMTO, December 2. The Command of the Burkina Faso Air Force has accepted the C-295W military transport aircraft ordered from Airbus Defense and Space in 2019.
According to Jane's Defense Weekly, military sources in Burkina Faso, the plane landed in Ouagadougou on November 16, having flown from Seville under the control of a national crew. After that, the procedure for its acceptance began.
The new C-295W (s.n.XT-MBH) has been adopted by the 511st Air Transport Squadron, stationed at Air Base No. 511 in Ouagadougou. The division also operates Beechcraft's King Air aircraft and Diamond Aircraft's DA-42MPP reconnaissance aircraft.
As reported by TSAMTO, in December 2019, in accordance with the "Law on Military Procurement for 2018-2022", the Ministry of Defense of Burkina Faso signed a contract with Airbus for the supply of one C-295 aircraft. The cost and delivery dates were not disclosed.
The C-295W is designed to replace the NC-235-220 aircraft previously purchased from Indonesian PTDI. The Indonesian version of the C-235 was purchased in 2007 on the secondary market, but was decommissioned in 2016 after serious damage to one of the engines.
As part of the ongoing modernization program of the country's armed Forces, the Burkina Faso Air Force, in addition to the C-295W, also received two Mi-171 helicopters ordered in 2017, five AS-350 helicopters from Airbus, which were purchased on the secondary market from a French company and delivered in 2019. It was assumed that the latter would be equipped with weapons after delivery, but so far these works have not been completed.
The Burkina Faso Armed Forces also returned to service two Mi-17-1B, which were repaired by LOM Praha in the Czech Republic, and at least one of the two Mi-35 attack helicopters, which were repaired in an unknown country.
