EADS Casa delivered the first of 12 C-295 Persuader military transport aircraft to the Brazilian air force (FAB) earlier this week.
In a ceremony in capital Brasilia on Monday attended by the Brazilian defence minister Walter Pires,teh country's chief of air staff Luis Carlos da Silva Bueno, his Spanish counterpart Francisco José García de la Vega and EADS Casa chairman Francisco Fernández Sáinz, the air force took formal delivery (see picture below). Fernández Sáiz, thanked Brazilian industrial partners for their collaboration during the project.
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Four aircraft will be delivered before the end of the year, an increase on the two originally planned in the April 2005 deal.
The contract also includes the modernisation of the FAB's fleet of eight Lockheed Martin P-3BR Orion maritime patrol aircraft including the installation of the Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS) mission system derived from the system for the Spanish navy's P-3 upgrade. FITS incorporates an Indra mission computer/tactical system.
The Persuaders will be part of the CL-X programme of medium transport aircraft designed to support activities related with the Amazon Protection System (SIPAM) and the Calha Norte Project to support people in remote areas of the Amazon jungle. The twelve C-295s will replace the de Havilland Canada C-115 Buffalo fleet.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
