Airbus Defence and Space has commenced a two week demonstration tour in the Asia-Pacific with its C295 maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA).
The tour will be conducted with a new aircraft recently delivered to Brazil's air force, says Airbus in a statement.
The aircraft is now at Thailand's U-Tapao air base, and over the next two weeks it will visit Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea. Following this, it will conduct a demonstration tour in North America.
"The C295 offers a state-of-the-art mission system, lower operating and life-cycle costs and an earlier delivery schedule than its competitors," says Airbus.
"Its versatile cabin configuration allows easy and fast switching from one mission to another. It also features an endurance of more than 10 hours, high manoeuvrability, low-level flying capabilities, and a wide rear ramp."
Airbus points out that Thailand already operates transport versions of the C295 and CN235, which "potentially leads to an easy crew transition and lower operating costs in the future."
Maritime patrol has been a significant theme of the region's air shows in recent years. Rising political tensions and conflicting territorial claims in littoral regions have spurred interest in maritime patrol assets.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
