Croatia and Greece reportedly signed contracts on March 25, 2024 for the purchase of new DHC-515 Firefighter amphibious firefighting aircraft with the Canadian company De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited. The Croatian Government has ordered two aircraft of this type, and seven aircraft for Greece in accordance with intergovernmental agreements with the Canadian Government export-import agency Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), acting on behalf of De Havilland Aircraft of Canada.
Image of the De Havilland Canada DHC-515 Firefighter Amphibious Firefighting Aircraft (c) De Havilland Aircraft of Canada
In both countries, DHC-515 aircraft will enter service with the national Air Force, which operates fire-fighting amphibious aircraft of previous versions. In the Croatian Air Force, this is the 885th squadron, which has six CL-415 aircraft, and the Greek Air Force has eight CL-415 aircraft (as part of the 383rd squadron) and 11 piston-engined CL-215 (as part of the 355th Squadron) - it is assumed that the new DHC-515 aircraft will replace the CL-215.
According to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the value of the contract concluded by Greece for the purchase of seven DHC-515 is 360 million euros, but the purchase of two of these aircraft will be financed by the European Union. Aircraft deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2030. The acquisition of both Croatian aircraft is also funded by the EU.
It is expected that within the framework of the joint EU rescEU program, European countries will purchase a total of 24 DHC-515 aircraft, the acquisition program of which will be partially (for 12 aircraft) financed from EU funds in the amount of 600 million euros. Including that four other EU member states - France, Italy, Portugal and Spain - will also purchase DHC-515. Each of the six above-mentioned countries (including Greece and Croatia) will have two aircraft paid for by the EU under the rescEU program, which will allow them to be used for the needs of other European countries to fight fires.
Recall that De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited was revived in 2019 on the basis of the Canadian company Viking Air and its parent corporation Longview Aviation Capital Corporation. acquired in 2006-2018 from the Canadian company Bombardier Aerospace a significant part of the aircraft manufacturing assets of the latter, including all rights to the DHC series aircraft of the former De Havilland Aircraft of Canada, which existed since 1928 and was absorbed by Bombardier in 1992 - from DHC-1 to DHC-8. In November 2018, Longview Aviation Capital Corporation reached a final agreement to acquire from Bombardier Aerospace the entire Q400 Dash 8 regional turboprop aircraft production program, including also intellectual property rights in respect of the now discontinued Dash 8 100, 200 and 300 series aircraft, and after-sales service rights for Dash 8 series aircraft. The De Havilland brand and trademark have been acquired. Earlier in 2016, Viking Air acquired from Bombardier Aerospace a program for the production of amphibious aircraft (the turboprop CL-415 and the previously produced piston-engined CL-215 and its turboprop remotivated version CL-215T), including their type certificates and after-sales service.
From the very beginning, Viking Air announced its intention to resume production of the CL-415 amphibious aircraft in an updated form.
The production of the Canadair CL-415 amphibious aircraft was carried out by Bombardier Aerospace (which absorbed the Canadair company in 1986) from 1993 to 2015, a total of 95 aircraft were built. In December 2015, Bombardier announced the suspension of production of the CL-415 until new orders were received and closed the aircraft data center, and then completely sold the program for their production to Viking Air.
As an updated promising version of the CL-415 for the resumption of production, Viking Air presented the CL-515 project at the end of 2018, which in March 2022 was renamed the DHC-515 Firefighter as a product of the revived De Havilland Aircraft of Canada.
The updated DHC-515 aircraft will have a 15% higher payload than the CL-415 (in particular, in the fire-fighting version, it will take 7000 liters of water instead of 6000 liters from the CL-415) and have 12-15% better fuel efficiency. It is planned that the DHC-515 aircraft will be offered, in addition to the main fire-fighting option, also in agricultural, cargo (with a large cargo door), passenger (capacity of 12 passengers), medical (capacity of three stretchers) and patrol versions. The DHC-515 aircraft will be equipped with two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW123AF turboprop engines and a modern Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics system.
In October 2023, De Havilland Aircraft of Canada announced the start of construction of the first prototype DHC-515 at its facility at Victoria International Airport in British Columbia. It is planned that the final assembly of the prototype aircraft will take place at the company's plant in Calgary, Alberta, until the construction of a new aircraft manufacturing plant in Wheatland County, Alberta, is completed. Construction of this new De Havilland Field facility began in early 2024. The final assembly of the serial DHC-515 will be moved to De Havilland Field in 2026. Deliveries of DHC-515 to customers are scheduled to begin in 2027.
The first customer of the DHC-515 was the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, which signed an agreement with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada in June 2019 to purchase six aircraft, including two in a fire-fighting version and four in a multi-purpose version.