A €115m Defence Forces patrol aircraft has ability to rescue Irish citizens abroad

A €115 million Defence Forces patrol aircraft will broaden options for rescuing Irish citizens from difficult situations abroad where the State has previously relied on the goodwill of neighbouring European air forces.

Although primarily a maritime patrol plane, the Airbus C295W, which arrived at Baldonnel Aerodrome on Tuesday, could technically be adapted to help Irish citizens from countries beset by conflict or other emergencies. That function will ultimately be replaced by a larger transport aircraft in the next two years.

“It potentially has [the ability for foreign evacuations] but really it’s the arrival of our aircraft in 2025 that will give us that additional logistical capacity,” Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin said in Baldonnel on Tuesday.

“We are very much a part of the European Union team in respect of that area and I envisage us engaging and joining up with our European colleagues and a number of partnerships in that regard as well as developing our own capability.”

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Irish citizens relied on foreign military aircraft when conflict erupted in Sudan earlier this year and, similarly, when the Taliban regained control of Kabul in Afghanistan in 2021. Irish military and civilian personnel assisted in both operations.

However, even in domestic terms, the C295 marks a shift in Air Force capability in terms of maritime surveillance. It will be used to monitor fishing vessels, potential drug smuggling and other activity around the coast, as well as helping with other functions such as air ambulance missions.

Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lt Gen Seán Clancy said the plane’s arrival came “at a time when capabilities need to be advanced and increased significantly”.

The plane and its sister aircraft, due in September, will replace two CN-235 aircraft which have been in service since 1994, at a total cost of about €230 million. They should become operational in the last quarter of this year.

According to Brigadier General Rory O’Connor, the new aircraft “are larger, go further, [with] greater payload and are obviously technologically superior to what we had before”.

“It’s a sea change from what we’ve been operating before,” said Lt Col Patrick Ridge who will take charge of the plane’s introduction to service. “The CN-235, which is its predecessor, was in service with us for nearly three decades and whilst it was a fantastic workhorse, the two are almost incomparable.”