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A C-295 aircraft, destined for the RCAF as a trainer for maintenance crews, has arrived in British Columbia.

The C-295 left Spain on Jan. 27 and arrived in 19 Wing in Comox on Tuesday. It was flown by an Airbus Defence crew.

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The training aircraft stopped at all of the RCAF’s fixed-wing search and rescue bases across Canada on its way to Comox, BC. The stops included 14 Wing Greenwood, N.S.; 8 Wing Trenton, Ont.; and 17 Wing Winnipeg, Man., said Department of National Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier.

Although almost identical to a C-295, this aircraft does not have nor need the full mission equipment capability to conduct search and rescue missions, Esprit de Corps military magazine has reported. It is not one of the 16 C-295 aircraft being procured under the fixed wing search and rescue project. Instead, it is considered an additional asset that is part of the training solution. “It will be used to train maintenance technicians on rigging, removal and reinstallation procedures,” Le Bouthillier explained. “Therefore, not all components need to be operationally functional and can instead be less expensive replicas.”

“This aircraft is to be disassembled upon arrival, and be partly reassembled inside the new FWSAR training centre,” he added.

It will be registered as a training asset, not an aircraft.

The first C-295 of the fixed wing search and rescue fleet is expected sometime in the spring.

Aircraft will roll off the production line at an average rate of five per year through 2020/2021, with the sixteenth expected to roll-off the assembly line in mid-2022. The final aircraft delivery to Canada is expected in the fall of 2022. Initial operational capability for the new fleet is anticipated in mid-2021.