Aircraft manufacturer Textron Aviation has turned over the first of two aeromedical evacuation turboprops to the Peruvian air force (FAP), which has already put the aircraft into active use.
The Wichita-based airframer on 19 November said it had delivered the first Beechcraft King Air 360CHW to Peru, with a second example to follow in 2025.
The multi-role CHW variant of the standard King Air 360 utility aircraft features a cargo door and other modifications oriented for the transport of heavy-weight operations, according to Textron.
“The King Air 360CHW delivered to the Peruvian Air Force for aeromedical evacuation… can also execute troop and cargo transport, command and control and many other missions,” says Bob Gibbs, the company’s vice-president of special mission sales.
Although Textron disclosed the delivery on 19 November, data from flight tracking service FlightAware indicates that the new King Air360CHW (registration FAP-345) was likely turned over to Lima several weeks earlier, with the twin-engined type already having made several sorties between Lima’s Jorge Chavez International airport, the nearby Las Palmas air base in Barranco and the northern city of Chiclayo.
Spanish-language news site Zona Militar reported the King Air 360CHW turnover on 5 October, saying FAP chief Air General Carlos Enrique Chavez Cateriano received the aircraft at Textron’s check-out facility in Wichita.
FAP-345 appears to have already been deployed for frontline service in Peru.
Zona Militar reported on 31 October that the medevac platform was called on to perform its first air ambulance mission just 12h after formally entering service with the FAP. That flight saw the evacuation of two critically ill children from the northern Lambayeque region to a hospital in Lima – a round trip distance of 810nm (1,500km).
In recent weeks, the Peruvian military also responded to multiple natural disasters, including wildfires in Huancabamba province on 18 November and flooding in the San Martin region on 15 November.
Lima scrambled another military aircraft – a Leonardo C-27J Spartan tactical transport – as part of that response. One of the high-wing turboprops launched from Chiclayo air base, equipped with a Guardian firefighting system to support extinguishing operations. The aircraft made two sorties over the Huancabamba blaze, according to Peru’s defence ministry.
Cirium data suggests the Peruvian air force has four C-27Js in its inventory.
