Demanda renovada de avión para extinguir incendios infographic
El gráfico muestra el avión “Canadair” DHC-515 para combatir incendios y el aumento de incendios forestales a nivel global.
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Avión suspendido para combate incendios a producción

By Ninian Carter

September 17, 2024 - Retirado de la producción en 2015, el “Canadair” DHC-515 de Canadá, el mejor avión anfibio extinguidor de incendios, vuelvea fabricarse después de un pedido de la UE de 22 nuevas naves

Globally, 2023 was the worst year for wildfires, with an area approximately the size of North Korea going up in flames.

One of the key methods for fighting forest fires is to use firefighting aircraft to douse the flames from the sky.

The DHC-515 Firefighter, also known as the “Canadair”, is the world’s best amphibious firefighting plane. Formerly built by Bombardier, until financial woes caused it to sell off the unit to De Havilland, the plane has been out of production since 2015.

The new owners first considered restarting production of the plane in 2019, but needed a minimum number of orders to mitigate high production costs.

Then in 2020, with climate change causing increasing numbers of fires every year, the EU started looking at expanding its aerial firefighting fleet. By combining demand from across the region, it has been able to place an order for 22 new planes – enough to get production back up and running.

The aircraft, including a few upgrades to avionics, cost €50 million each and will be delivered to Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain – taking around 18-36 months for the order to be completed at De Havilland’s Calgary plant in Canada.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 17/09/2024; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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