With 57 of its twin-engined light and medium tactical transport aircraft already in service with 14 countries in Africa, Airbus Defence & Space (DS), part of the Airbus Group, believes its products are ideal to meet the continent’s needs, both regarding transport and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. This African fleet is composed of 18 C212 light transports and ten CN235 and 29 larger C295 light/medium transports. These are operated by the air forces or air wings of Angola, Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Lesotho, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In addition, Mali has one aircraft on order.
By far the largest fleet is operated by Egypt, which has received 21 of the 24 C295s it has ordered. The South African Air Force (SAAF) operates three Airbus DS aircraft in this category, all of them being C212s (the SAAF retired its one and only CN235, which was the first production example ever built, to the SAAF Museum a few years ago). The smallest fleets are those of Cameroon and Gabon, with one aircraft each.
The average elevation of the African landmass is around 600 m, with some countries, such as Ethiopia, located on high plateaux of between 2 000 m and 2 500 m in altitude. There are also desert regions with elevations of around 1 300 m and temperatures reaching 35 ° C, as well as tropical zones with high temperatures, high humidity and frequent severe storms. The company believes that the latest version of its C295, the C295W, with enhanced performance (EP) engines, can surmount all these challenges. The –W in the aircraft’s designation signifies winglets, which improve its aerodynamic performance in hot and high operating conditions. Coupled with the EP engines, the result is the ability to take off from an airfield at an elevation of 2 000 m with a payload of 7.85 t and fly it for 500 nautical miles (nm). (A standard C295, taking off at sea level in cool conditions, has a maximum payload of 9 t.)
In a recent presentation, Airbus DS tactical airlifters and ISR marketing head Fernando Ciria cited the experiences of the Egyptian and Ghanaian Air Forces, among others, in operating C295s in Africa. The Egyptian Air Force is, in fact, the biggest single operator of the C295 in the world. The service uses its C295s to transport personnel and goods around its network of some 20 air bases (although one C295 is dedicated to VIP transport). This role was previously fulfilled by the air force’s Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules four-engined transports. The use of the C295 instead has, Ciria pointed out, greatly reduced costs. (It has also freed up the Hercules force for more strategic missions.)
The Ghanaian Air Force (GAF) flies very different mission profiles with its three C295s. The aircraft are primarily employed to support United Nations (UN) peacekeeping and security operations, particularly the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma), to which Ghana has contributed 215 personnel. Effectively, they are the GAF’s strategic transports. They are used to transport personnel and cargo between Minusma’s main logistics hubs, but their most important mission has been casualty evacuation. The aircraft are averaging between 80 and 100 flying hours a month in support of the UN operation and undergo A-checks every 300 hours. (A-checks are the most basic type of aircraft inspection carried out by a maintenance facility.)
But CN235s and C295s can also serve in ISR roles. Both types are already firmly established as maritime surveillance aircraft. Most notably, the CN235 is operated by the US Coast Guard as the HC-144, while Spanish Air Force maritime surveillance CN235s have operated along and off the Somali coast in anti-piracy operations.