L3 Wescam has delivered its first MX-15 EO/IR system to Airbus Defence and Space in support of Royal Canadian Air Force’s Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue (FWSAR) aircraft replacement programme, the company announced on 27 July.
The system is the first out of 20 planned deliveries, which will support the Canadian Department of National Defence in replacing its legacy SAR aircraft, the CC-115 Buffalo and CC-130H Hercules, and the technology within.
The MX-15 features high-sensitivity sensors and advanced GEO and intuitive technologies that will provide SAR operators with day and night visual capabilities, despite atmospheric interference, and will operate with detection and identification ranges that will help to shorten search grid patterns and on scene search times.
Canada has a search area of 18 million sq km, making time-critical SAR operations challenging.
C295 MPA/MSA