José Higuera, Santiago, Chile - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
28 October 2016
The Chilean Army is planning to buy a first batch of four to six medium transport aircraft to replace a number of CASA C212 Aviocar aircraft that the service has recently paid off, military sources in Santiago told IHS Jane's .
The army expects to place the order, for which the Airbus C295M and Leonardo Finmeccanica's C-27J are seen as the leading competitors, by the middle of 2017.
Either type would bolster the Army Aviation Brigade's fleet of fixed-wing transport aircraft that currently comprises three Airbus Defence and Space CN235 aircraft that were recently overhauled and upgraded.
Meanwhile, the Chilean Air Force has discarded earlier plans to also procure a number of medium turbo-prop transport aircraft.
