Will Bring Maritime Patrol/SAR Fleet To Five

Aero-News learned this week Field Aviation of Toronto was recently awarded a contract to convert two additional Bombardier/de Havilland Dash 8-300 turboprops as Maritime Patrol (MPA)/Search and Rescue (SAR) platforms for the Japan Coast Guard. This follows an initial contract for three Japanese Dash 8-300 MPAs signed in January 2007, and currently under completion.

Sojitz Corporation of Japan is the prime contractor to the Japan Coast Guard for the project. The two Q300s will be acquired from Bombardier Aerospace, including Field Aviation's modifications. The aircraft will be modified by Field Aviation at its Toronto modification center and will feature a missionized interior, large conformal observation windows and a unique, Field-developed and certified air-drop capability through the inflight-operable rear cargo door.

Surveillance sensors employing the latest technology will be installed, including a 360° surface search radar, a stabilized FLIR electro-optical multi-spectral imaging payload, as well as a new suite of modern mission navigation communications systems. The aircraft modifications, valued at $US13 million, will commence in January, 2009, and both aircraft will be delivered by November 2009.

Japan’s new aircraft will operate as the next-generation fixed-wing turboprop for maritime patrol and search and rescue duty within Japan’s area of maritime responsibility.

The Dash 8 was first modified for the Maritime Patrol role by Field in 1995, when three aircraft were delivered to Surveillance Australia which provides airborne surveillance of the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), under the country’s COASTWATCH program. Two additional Dash 8 MPAs were delivered to Australia in 2000, and Field is currently modifying additional aircraft that have seen the Surveillance Australia fleet grow to 10 Dash 8s by the end of 2007.

Other customers for Field’s Dash 8 MPA/ SAR Aircraft modifications include US Customs and Border Protection, where the first of a fleet of Series 200 MPAs entered service in 2005, as well as the Swedish Coast Guard and the Iceland Coast Guard..

FMI: www.fieldav.com, www.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/e/index_e.htm