Airbus Military C295 MPA

A newly released image from Airbus Military

http://www.flickr.com/photos/airbusgroup/12454864124/

 

Think Defence

Think Defence hopes to start sensible conversations about UK defence issues, no agenda or no campaign but there might be one or two posts on containers, bridges and mexeflotes!

This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. Bertram Frandsen

    Few countries will be able to afford the P-8 Poseidon, so the C295 MPA may be a more economical and affordable replacement for existing maritime patrol aircraft.

  2. Martin

    If only the thing came with a better range and bit more carrying capacity.

  3. TED

    Well the endurance of that one looks pretty near unlimited, it also has a cracking glider ratio :D

  4. 40 deg south

    http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/singapore-airbus-defence-unit-targets-new-sales-then-airlift-395850/

    Browsing through reports from the Singapore air show, I was surprised to come acoss this snippet.

    With an eye on additional regional sales opportunities for the C295, Airbus also reveals that the Portuguese air force example which visited the show will fly on to New Zealand, where it will be used to perform a maritime patrol demonstration for the nation’s military.

    The NZ P3C’s have just come out of an upgrade designed to give them another decade of life, so I don’t fancy Airbus’ chances.

    RNZAF still misses its old Andovers, even if lack of range made them very difficult to get to and from NZ. So a small order for light transport/second-tier MPA? Possible, but can’t really see it, especially with Australia having gone down the C27J route.

  5. Oscar Zulu

    And so it begins…

    Last months ‘exercise’ saw the PLAN sail trough the Sunda Strait past Christmas Island and along the southern Indonesian coast in the direction of Darwin before returning north through the Indonesian archipelago and back into the South China Sea.

    While the RAAF AP3Cs tracked them through international waters, at their closest point the would have been within 200 kms of Australian territory and around 500 kms from the Australian mainland.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/raaf-scrambles-plane-to-observe-chinese-naval-exercise-20140212-32ief.html

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-13/china-flexed-military-muscle-north-of-australia/5257686

    If things start to get serious you want to be fielding AP3Cs or P8s in your inventory and not C295s.

    And just in case you might think the Chinese navy a somewhat distant threat, consider their new found interest in the Mediterranean. http://rt.com/news/russia-china-naval-drills-838/

    Upside for the ADF is an Asia-Pacific ‘cold war’ should lead to defence being able to more easily justify increased spending.

  6. Nicky

    I can see the C295 MPA or the C295 AEW&C as a cheaper alternative to the P-8 Poseidon or the E-3 sentry.

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