The Commander of the Czech Air Force, Major General Petr Mikulenka, took over the first of a pair of new C-295MW aircraft in Seville, Spain. The official act took place at the headquarters of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus Defense and Space SA, as well as the retraining of pilots for the new systems. The handover was also attended by the commander of the 24th Air Transport Base Prague – Kbely, Colonel Martin Nezbeda, and representatives of the project team of the Armaments and Acquisitions Section of the Ministry of Defense.
The Czech Air Force (VzduÅ¡né sÃly armády ÄŒeské republiky, CzAF) has signed a contract for the acquisition of two additional Airbus C295MW medium airlifters. The aircraft, equipped with military winglets and ordered in transport configuration, are due to be delivered in the first half of 2021. The agreement takes the Czech Air Force’s total C295M fleet up to six aircraft. Together with this agreement, an additional contract was also signed for the upgrade of the four C295s currently in operation with the Czech Air Force.
Next to the order for the new aircraft, the Czech government also signed a contract for upgrading its current fleet of C295Ms, but it is not known yet when this is planned. The Czech military takes over four aircraft from a Spanish manufacturer in 2010. The CzAF C295M transporters are based at Kbely on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Prague. The fleet is operated by 242. transportnà a speciálnà letka (242.tsl/24.zDL). The maximum transport capacity of C-295M aircraft for the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic is up to 66 personnel or 46 fully equipped airborne troops.
The EADS CASA C-295 is a twin-turboprop tactical military transport aircraft manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space in Spain, and Indonesian Aerospace in Indonesia as CN-295. The C-295 is manufactured and assembled in the Airbus Defence and Space facilities in San Pablo Airport, located in Seville, Spain. It is a development of the Spanish–Indonesian transport aircraft CASA/IPTN CN-235, but with a stretched fuselage, 50% more payload capability and new Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127G turboprop engines.
