Greece announces the purchase of seven Canadair DHC-515 firefighting planes. The order will be finalized by the end of March 2024. The value of the deal amounts to approximately 360 million euros overall. Athens' goal is to modernize its fleet of aircraft used in the fight against fires, a real plague in the country. The first two fixed-wing aircraft will be delivered in 2027.

It was reported in recent hours by the spokesperson of the Greek executive, Pavlos Marinakis, who confirmed during a press briefing that Greece will finalize this month. According to what the Athens executive announced, the purchase order will be formalized during the visit of the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to Canada, scheduled for March 24 to 25.

Five Canadair aircraft will strengthen Greece's civil protection fleet, while another two will be used in the European Union's "RescEu" program, the civil protection mechanism that mobilizes helicopters and planes from various countries to make up for the shortcomings of a state member during a fire emergency. While waiting for the delivery of the new DHC-515 aircraft, Athens will spend 43 million euros to upgrade the current Canadairs.

The DHC-515 is a product of the Canadian manufacturer De Havilland Aircraft, which purchased the Canadair CL program in 2016. It is a latest generation version designed to replace the old firefighting fleets made up of the CL-215 and CL-415 variants. These are the characteristics of the DHC-515: the new turboprop engines allow lower fuel consumption (from -15% to -40%) and lower Co2 emissions (-50%), new avionics, faster tank filling (12 seconds), operational capacity doubled (almost 700,000 liters per day).