MRO firm Rheinland Air Service is highlighting its special mission aircraft business, exhibiting an ATR 72-500 that it has adapted for the requirements of the Pakistan Navy.
The RAS 72 MPA (maritime patrol aircraft) is a heavily-modified former airliner complete with a pair of externally-mounted torpedoes, a sonobuoy dispenser system, operator stations, observation windows, data links and sensors consistent with the maritime patrol mission.
The aircraft on static (MSN 712) is the second RAS 72 MPA to be delivered to Pakistan. Cirium’s Fleets Analyzer shows that it was operated by Canary Islands carrier Binter Canarias from 2004 to 2013. While the interior is modified with operator stations and the sonobuoy system, it still retains the overhead racks from its airliner days.
Greg Waldron
Nikolaos Mavrikis, director of the RAS special aircraft division, says the aircraft illustrates the company’s range of capabilities, adding that RAS is platform and equipment agnostic.
In addition to the MPA modification, other modifications the company is pitching include C4ISR (command, control communications, intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance), signals intelligence, electronic warfare surveillance, search and rescue, VIP transport and others.
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Source: FlightGlobal.com
