By Lisa Gordon | May 29, 2013 Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 18 seconds.
Airbus Military announced it is partnering with Canadian firm Discovery Air Defence Services (DADS) to promote its C295 aircraft as Canada’s next fixed-wing search and rescue platform. A teaming agreement was signed in Ottawa this morning at CANSEC, the country’s largest defence technology trade show.
Antonio Rodriguez-Barberan, Airbus Military SVP Commercial, told a group of reporters that the seeds of the partnership with DADS were sown two years ago, with the realization that Airbus Military’s C295, combined with DADS’ high-value in service support (ISS) content, provided the solution to Canada’s FWSAR needs. “This is a happy day,” said Barberan. “Like Humphrey Bogart said in Casablanca, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
The C295 currently operates in 17 countries, with a worldwide fleet of 121 aircraft performing maritime patrol, search and rescue and related missions.
Paul Bouchard, president of DADS, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer this solution in conjunction with Airbus Military to the Canadian Forces. We are very excited about the C295 aircraft; a proven and reliable SAR platform that has been sold all over the world with over 120,000 flying hours to its credit.”
In early May, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced that a quadrennial review process would be instituted immediately for Canada’s search and rescue (SAR) program. The goal of the review, he said, is to ensure that equipment and personnel are up to date and stationed where they need to be. The announcement came hard upon the heels of Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s spring report, which raised serious concerns about the equipment, staffing and sustainability of Canadian SAR.
Under its Canada First Defence Strategy, the Canadian government has committed to replacing its aging fleet of fixed-wing SAR aircraft, including the venerable CC-115 Buffalo and the legacy CC-130 Hercules aircraft. The FWSAR Secretariat posted a new Letter of Interest (LOI) on the government’s procurement site, MERX, this past January.
