News Aerial Firefighting
France to receive two DHC-515 FIREFIGHTER aircraft

CCC on August 12 announced the signing of a government-to-government contract with France’s La direction générale de l’Armement (DGA) du ministère français des Armées for the purchase of two DHC-515 FIREFIGHTER aircraft manufactured by De Havilland Aircraft of Canada.

De Havilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC) will supply the waterbombers to France, along with spare parts, training, and maintenance support. The DHC-515 is rated to deliver nearly 700,000 litres of water into the fire zone each day, explains CCC, which is a capacity more than double that of its closest competitor.

CCC, Canada’s government-to-government contracting agency, also notes the DHC-515 has the ability to refill its tanks in just 12 seconds from a variety of sources, including rivers, small lakes and oceans, allowing the aircraft to continuously operate from nearby fresh or saltwater sources.

This acquisition of Canadian waterbombers by France is the result of ongoing cooperation between CCC, DHC, the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism (rescEU) and its member states to supply the EU with Canadian-made waterbombers. RescEU is supporting the acquisition of 12 DHC-515 aircraft for Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Spain and France with a total of 22 DHC-515 aircraft purchased through CCC.

“For decades, the Canadair aircraft have been the backbone of the French firefighting fleet,” said Jean-Philippe Côté, Vice President, Programs and Business Improvement, De Havilland Aircraft of Canada. “We are proud that France has once again selected the latest version of the Canadair, the DHC-515, to help protect the people and property of the country.”