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A C-295 aircraft, destined for the RCAF as a trainer for maintenance crews, will be making stops at search and rescue bases in Canada to give military personnel a peak into the latest addition to the Canadian Forces flight line.

The C-295 left Spain on Jan. 27. The trainer will stop at all of the RCAF’s fixed-wing search and rescue bases across Canada on its way to Comox, BC. The stops include 14 Wing Greenwood, N.S.; 8 Wing Trenton, Ont.; and 17 Wing Winnipeg, Man., said Department of National Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier. “These brief visits are meant to provide RCAF personnel with an advanced look at this important training tool for the FWSAR fleet,” he added.

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The aircraft will be located at 19 Wing in Comox.

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.

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.