Airbus Military has begun tests near Cordoba, Spain of a C295 aircraft modified as an air tanker. The flights went well, according to the company, and further tests are planned in the near future to make a more detailed analysis of the C295 as a firefighter aircraft.
The C295 looks similar to the C-27J but it has less impressive performance. According to Wikipedia (see the links above) the payload capacity of the C295 is about 5,000 pounds less and the engines have 57 percent of the horsepower of the C-27J. It would probably carry about 400 gallons less retardant than the C-27J, with a capacity of around 1,400 to 1,700 gallons is our guess.
Rumor has it that France is considering replacing their fleet of Conair Turbocats, which are retrofitted Grumman S-2 Trackers.
Thanks go out to Walter
6 Comments
Looks nice..might be a consideration for us back home.
Any idea when it will be available?
Available when? excellent question…
Quality of drop patterns and Tank system will determine the real potential for the Casa295 as a 2000 Gallon Airtanker.
One big advantage is the Multirole capability.
French pilots of securite civile are invited to fly and try it out in November.
To be continued..
Do I read this right? The C-27j has nearly double the horsepower but it only carries 20% more payload? And it has 600 miles less range?.. Either the CASA 295 is super efficient or the C27j is a dog…
I wrote 2000 Gallons but probably more like 1500 or so… to be confirmed.
I don’t know much about this platform but the name airbus makes me a bit nervous simply because of their love for using composites. Is this an all metal airframe ?
Capacity could be as little as 3500 litres (<1000 USG)
see Paragraph 4 in http://aviation.ferchau.de/en/standorte/madrid/
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