Who Is The Mystery Buyer Of Airbus C295 Aircraft? - Defense News

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify the potential customers of the Airbus C295, now only including Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Airbus is selling its C295 tactical airlifter to a mystery Southeast Asian customer and is fulfilling a follow-on order for Thailand, the company announced Monday.

The European aircraft manufacturer announced the sale of an additional C295 to Thailand for its Army. The aircraft will be delivered in 2023, outfitted in a utility transport configuration, although no contract values were disclosed in the announcement for either buy. The announcement also mentioned a recent sale of three aircraft to an “undisclosed military customer in the region.”

Johan Pelissier, the head of Airbus Defence and Space’s Asia-Pacific business activity, said that “the C295 is gaining popularity in Asia-Pacific due to its modularity, maneuverability and endurance capability,” adding that “the low cost of operation compared to any other platform of its class makes it a good prospect for the militaries.”

Industry sources tell Defense News that in this case, the “Asia-Pacific” region refers specifically to Southeast Asia instead of the wider geographic region. The sources added the customer was already existing customer of the C295, narrowing the mystery buyer down to Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The secrecy suggests that the customer is likely to be Vietnam, which already operates three C295s ordered in 2014, having retired its Russian-built Antonov An-26 transports.

Vietnam’s existing C295s serve alongside a similar number of CASA/IPTN NC-212 light transport aircraft, and the addition of three more aircraft would represent a significant improvement to its airlift capability.

The country is a claimant to the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands in the South China Sea, and the C295 would come in use in resupplying several outposts Vietnam maintains on the islands, as well as in other roles such as humanitarian disaster relief.

In addition to the aforementioned Southeast Asian air forces, another 28 air forces operate the type or have it on order, including Canada, Egypt and Spain. The type is available as the C295M or improved C295W transport, as well as the C295 Persuader maritime patrol aircraft.

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

Share:

More In Asia Pacific

Space Force plans to award 20 contracts for commercial reserve by 2026

The contracts will detail the level of commercial capability the service needs in peacetime and provide a means to access more capacity during conflict.

ULA’s new rocket won’t fly its first Space Force missions until 2025

Even if ULA's Vulcan rocket is certified in the coming weeks, time is running out to fly the missions before the end of the year, an official said.

Pentagon picks programmers to connect its Replicator drone swarms

The announcement comes a week after the Pentagon revealed several of the drones it plans to buy through Replicator.

Pentagon announces hypersonic testing pact with UK, Australia

The agreement, which falls under AUKUS Pillar II, aims to leverage the three nations’ combined hypersonics funding, facilities and experience.

Notre Dame unveils first-ever hypersonic Mach 10 wind tunnel

A first-of-its-kind test facility unveiled earlier this month at the University of Notre Dame could improve the Pentagon’s hypersonic research.