A second Airbus C295W tactical transport aircraft has been delivered to the Bangladesh Army Aviation Group. Airbus Defence and Space had announced an order for a single C295W in standard transport configuration for the Bangladesh Army on October 11, 2016. The aircraft, S3-BRT (c/n 170), was delivered in September 2017 and joined the Fixed Wing Battalion at Dhaka-Tejgaon/Bashar Air Base. It is unclear when the second aircraft was ordered, as there was no official announcement. These are the largest aircraft in the Bangladesh Army inventory, the other fixed-wing types are a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, four Cessna A152 Aerobats and four Diamond DA40NGs.
The aircraft, serial number S3-BRR (c/n 212) left the factory at Seville-San Pablo Airport, Spain, on September 19, flying initially to Malta International Airport, Luqa, where it made an overnight stop. It left the following day using callsign ‘AED912’ and headed for its next stop at Hurghada International Airport, Egypt. It arrived in Bangladesh on September 25, receiving a traditional water cannon salute as it taxied in for a formal induction ceremony. The event was attended by the Chief of the Air Staff, representatives of Airbus Defence And Space, members of the armed forces and government officials.
The Airbus C295 is a medium tactical transport aircraft that was designed by the Spanish aerospace company CASA (now Airbus Military). Work on what would become the C-295 was started during the 1990s as a derivative of the successful CASA/IPTN CN-235 transport aircraft. The C-295 is capable of performing a wide variety of missions effectively. These included parachute and cargo dropping, electronic signals intelligence (ELINT), medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), and maritime patrol. Some of the equipment for adapting the aircraft to performing various roles has been mounted onto pallets, allowing for its rapid installation and removal.
During June 2012, Airbus Military announced several enhancements to the base C-295 design, changes included the adoption of winglets and an ability to carry the Marte anti-ship missile; a dedicated airborne early warning and control variant was also planned. C-295Wis an upgraded model, equipped with wingtip devices (winglets) to improve performance in the takeoff, climb and cruise phases of flight by increasing the lift-drag ratio. The new generation C295W is the ideal aircraft for defence and civil missions to the benefit of society, such as humanitarian actions, homeland security, and environmental surveillance.