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The first Airbus CC-295, purchased by the Government of Canada for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) Fixed Wing Search and Rescue Aircraft Replacement (FWSAR) program, rolled out of the paint shop showing off its final livery at the Airbus facility in Seville, Spain. The aircraft will now go through the final preparation phase before its delivery to the customer, planned to take place in Spain before the end of the year.
The photo in this article shows the first Canadian C295, to be designated CC-295 by the RCAF, in its distinctive search and rescue colours.
The aircraft adopts the yellow paint scheme following the tradition defined in the 1970s for search and rescue aircraft, giving high visibility for those in the air and on the ground.
The contract, awarded in December 2016, includes 16 CC-295 aircraft and all in-service support elements including training and engineering services, the construction of a new training centre in Comox, B.C., and maintenance and support services.
The aircraft will be based where search and rescue squadrons are currently located: Comox, B.C.; Winnipeg, Man.; Trenton, Ont.; and Greenwood, N.S.
Considerable progress has been made since the FWSAR programme was announced two and a half years ago: the first aircraft is due to be delivered in Spain in the coming months; another six aircraft are either completing flight tests or in various stages of final assembly; and seven simulators and training devices are starting up preliminary acceptance tests.
The first RCAF crews started training in late summer 2019 at Airbus’ International Training Centre in Seville, Spain.
Great looking a/c……better than the four Lancasters we had with 107 Rescue Unit, RCAF Stn TORBAY NL back in the early 1960’s
Nice looking airplane – where are the spotting windows/blisters for SAR work? How do pararescue folks exit the airplane in flight? Noticed the rather shallow draft between ground and skin so I assume that this new aircraft will be restricted to hard surfaces, i.e. won’t be able to operate from anything other than established aerodromes with hard runways!! Nice looking plane but probably not the most ideal for the role it is being tasked with. Pilot training for the Airbus frame might also be problematic.
These aircraft aren’t limited to operating from hard surfaces. To quote from the Airbus Defence web site…
“The C295’s STOL capability combined with a strong landing gear enable it to operate in the most austere locations with the worst conditions for take-off and landings. The C295 is a tactical military transport aircraft with a light footprint to enable operations from short (no longer than 670 m/2,200 ft), soft and rough (CBR 2) unprepared airstrips. The C295 is also designed to provide outstanding low-level flight characteristics for tactical missions, flying at speeds down to 110 knots.”
https://www.airbus.com/defence/c295.html
I’m also not sure what you mean by, “Pilot training for the Airbus frame might also be problematic” ? The C295 doesn’t use side-stick controls like the current Airbus commercial airliners or A330-MRTT, if that’s what you’re referring to.
Did you even bother to watch the video ? The blisters are there in the rear of the plane near the rear side doors, and there’s an electro-optical sensor system in the ball turret under the nose with a FLIR, color camera and thermograph to spot targets at much further distances and you can see with your eyes, in day or night, and in bad weather conditions. Pararescue folks go out the rear ramp door same as they do on the Buffalo. The C295 is originally a tactical transport capable of short field take offs and landings, and operation from rough airfields so our air force is not going to be at all limited to hard surfaces. It is uniquely ideal for the needs of our search and rescue missions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXH2dD-8TLA
Too bad we didn’t update the Buffalo and Cariboo’s