The Angolan Air Force has taken delivery of the first of three new C295 transports from Airbus, with the aircraft arriving in Luanda.
The C295 came from the Airbus manufacturing facility in Seville, Spain, arriving in the Angolan capital in July 2024. It is configured as a transport plane. The remaining two will be configured for maritime surveillance. Plans to acquire the planes have been in the works for six years.
“The two C295s configured as Maritime Surveillance Aircraft will play a key role for Search and Rescue, control of illegal fishing and borders, support in case of natural disasters and intelligence-gathering missions, among others,” Airbus said.
The Airbus C295 is a medium tactical transport aircraft designed and initially manufactured by the Spanish aerospace company CASA, which is now part of the European multinational Airbus Defence and Space division. The C295 is 24.5 meters long with a 25.8-meter wingspan. It is significantly smaller than other transport planes on the market, but its range of 4,300 kilometers is longer than competitors.
A growing number of African countries have acquired the C295. Algeria has six, Burkina Faso has one, Côte d’Ivoire has one, Egypt has 24, Equatorial Guinea has two on order, Gabon has one, Ghana has three, Mali has two, and Senegal has one and one more on order. In total, 10 countries, including one undisclosed customer, operate or have ordered 44 aircraft in Africa, and these have reached more than 100,000 flight hours since 2005.
The company cited a good example of “resiliency and outstanding performance of the C295 in African territory” during an international peacekeeping mission that the Senegalese Air Force performed in Mali in September 2023, with 28 troop rotations in 14 days, with a total of 200 flight hours — 16 hours per day.
Airbus said it provides C295 operators material support, including repairs and spare parts, technical support with a field service representative, a navigation database, and technical publications updates.