Croatia signs €105M deal for next-gen firefighting planes

Croatian Canadair CL-415  (Photo credit: Totya/GNU Free Documentation/CC BY-SA 3.0 License)

ZAGREB, 27 March (Hina) – Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović and Canadian Commercial Corporation Vice-President Diane Montambault on Monday signed a €105 million contract for the purchase of two new Canadair firefighting planes, to be delivered in about five years.

The aircraft belong to a new generation of firefighting aircraft to be manufactured by the Canadian company De Havilland.

EU members are procuring 20 such aircraft and Croatia, along with Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, has been involved in a joint procedure for the procurement of DHC-515 aircraft.

The aircraft will be purchased with EU funds and they will be used not only by the countries involved in the joint procurement but by all the EU countries as well as third countries that request help.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who attended the signing ceremony, said that Croatia is one of a dozen countries that currently have Canadairs in their fleets.

He said that the aircraft will have a carrying capacity of six tonnes of water. Each plane costs slightly more than €50 million, and the purchase is financed entirely with EU funds.

“The number of firefighting planes that we have will thus increase from six to eight. Five aircraft have been continually in use, and one is used for spare parts. This way we will have seven functional planes, they will enhance our fire defence and we will become an important regional factor,” said Plenković.

The necessary spare parts worth more than seven million euros were agreed for the two new Canadairs as well, and their purchase will also be financed entirely with EU funds.

Attending the signing ceremony was also European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič, who said that owing to this procurement, Europeans would be safer in conditions of climate change.

The new Canadairs are expected to be delivered in the next four to five years, national fire commander Slavko Tucaković said.

“Croatia currently has six Air Tractors and six Canadairs, of which five are operational. We again expect a dry summer and a large number of fires and are doing our best to prepare for it well,” he said.

Minister of the Interior Božinović said that two multipurpose Subaru Bell 412EPX helicopters, with modules for medical evacuation and search and rescue operations, were expected to be delivered in May. Purchased with EU money, they will be used by the Civil Protection service and the HGSS mountain rescue service for rescue operations and emergency medical transport.