Canadian manufacturer of business jets and special mission aircraft, Bombardier, has teamed up with General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada to offer a Global 6500-based multi-mission maritime patrol/anti-submarine warfare (ASW) solution as a replacement for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF’s) ageing CP-140M Aurora fleet and the wider international export market.
The Global 6500 Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft (CMMA) could be an option and competitor in the RCAF’s ongoing quest for a successor to its Aurora fleet, which entered service in June 1980 and is scheduled for retirement in 2030. However, as previously reported, the Canadian government has already submitted a Letter of Request to the US Foreign Military Sales programme, outlining the nation’s CMMA requirements and requesting an offer on the planned purchase of 16 P-8A Poseidons.
Working with General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada – which specialises in the ASW and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission sets – the Bombardier-led team report that their Global 6500 CMMA solution is a better option than the Poseidon as it would be a much smaller, domestically developed aircraft that offers lower through-life operational costs and can be tailored with state-of-the-art systems to fulfil the RCAF’s requirements. The team also revealed that the systems of the Global 6500 CMMA elaborate on the CP-140’s upgrade plan and goes with integrated systems equipped by the RCAF’s fleet of CH-148 Cyclone multi-mission maritime helicopters.
In addition to Canada, several European nations – which is rumoured to include the Netherlands – are eyeing plans to acquire new maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The Netherlands retired its 13-strong Orion fleet – which comprised ten P-3C CUPs and three P-3C-II½s – on January 14, 2005, and sold its outgoing aircraft to Germany (eight P-3C CUPs) and Portugal (two P-3C CUPs and three P-3C-II½s) before the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service was disbanded in 2008. The nation now faces new maritime threats that justifies a renewal of its MPA fleet. Four P-8As or alternatives – such as the Global 6500 CMMA, Saab’s Swordfish (which is based on the Global 6000) and the Airbus A320MPA – are said to be options for them.
