The Airbus C295: Many Missions – One Aircraft

It is a rainy and windswept morning at Casement Aerodrome, located just southwest of Dublin. Sheets of rain move across the tarmac, and gusts exceeding 30 knots buffet the buildings and aircraft stationed on the apron. In Ireland, where the phrase “four seasons in one day” often holds true, the Irish Air Corps is used to flying in challenging conditions. Heavy rain, low clouds, and relentless winds are part of their daily operations, one of the many reasons Ireland chose the Airbus C295 Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) as its next-generation patrol platform.

Despite the bleak morning forecast, Commandant Dónal Curran remains optimistic. The Irish Air Corps has learned through experience that patience is key. As expected, by midday, the skies are clear, the rain fades away, and the Irish C295 MSA gleams in the unexpected sunlight while it sits on the ramp.

Inside the Mission Support Centre (MSC), specialists have compiled essential information for the day's patrol, such as flight plans, weather assessments, and tailored search-and-rescue (SAR) patterns. Once the crew receives the briefing package, inspects the aircraft, and completes the pre-mission meeting, they prepare for a flight along Ireland's southeastern approaches, continuing up the East Coast towards Dublin.

As the aerial branch of the Irish Defence Forces, the Irish Air Corps is responsible for protecting national sovereignty and ensuring the security of Irish airspace. A crucial part of this responsibility includes a detailed program of maritime patrols, both near the coast and further out at sea. These operations are vital for enforcing the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy and support the Irish Naval Service by identifying, monitoring, and reporting on fishing vessels within Irish waters.

The challenge is substantial: Ireland is responsible for approximately 20% of the EU's entire fisheries area. As a small island nation, its economy and coastal communities depend significantly on sustainable fishing. Therefore, detecting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as monitoring pollution and coastal erosion, is essential.

“The geopolitical situation has changed in recent years, so Ireland has to be out there to defend and protect its own territorial area,” explains Brigadier General Rory O’Connor, General Officer Commanding the Irish Air Corps. The scope of responsibilities is even wider. The Air Corps is tasked with maritime defence, environmental protection, assisting the Coast Guard, search and rescue operations, and medical evacuations. These diverse missions require an aircraft that offers versatility, endurance, and advanced sensor capabilities, qualities found in the C295 MSA.

Once in the air, the C295 adopts its maritime patrol mode. From this altitude, dense clouds conceal the ocean, creating the impression of restricted visibility. However, the C295 MSA is equipped to detect much more than the human eye. Descending through the cloud layer to approximately 1,000 feet, the crew starts their surveillance mission.

Corporal Brian Geraghty, Sensor and Airborne Radar Operator (SARO), sits before the aircraft’s Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS). “We always detect things that surprise us; we're constantly finding new ways to use the mission system to gain more and more valuable information,” he says.

One of the most cutting-edge sensors onboard is the Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) system, which can detect objects up to 25 meters below the ocean's surface. This technology recently allowed the Irish Air Corps to trace an early transatlantic communications cable, installed over a hundred years ago and now proposed as a potential UNESCO World Heritage site.

The radar on the C295 provides coverage of up to 200 nautical miles, offering extensive monitoring of the maritime area. Its cameras can capture details as small as 30 centimetres, enabling crews to identify vessel features, detect pollution, or verify adherence to EU fisheries regulations.

Beneath the aircraft's nose, the electro-optical/infrared turret provides clear images during the day and thermal visuals at night. Its narrow-field spotter scope allows crews to identify flag state, observe personnel activity, examine hull markings, and assess anchoring conditions.

The mission system fuses these inputs, allowing the SARO to overlay radar, electro-optical and infrared data into a single operational picture. When pollution is detected, the system calculates the thickness, depth and likely composition of the discharge. “Depending on altitude, we are covering around a 45-metre patch,” says Commandant Curran. “The system will determine the pollution’s depth and likely composition.”

For thirty years, the Irish Air Corps utilised the Airbus CN235 MSA, achieving over 1,000 flight hours per aircraft each year, surpassing all other operators. The arrival of the C295 MSA in 2023 represented a significant advancement.

The training at Airbus’s International Training Centre in Seville equipped crews to handle the advanced sensor suite and digital cockpit of the new aircraft. Currently, Airbus Services provides continuous support to keep the aircraft fully mission-ready.

“From an operational perspective, it’s a massive difference between the CN235 and the C295 in how we operate,” notes Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Ridge, Officer Commanding No. 1 Operations Wing. “How we conduct our patrols at sea is very much changing and enhanced by the new platform and its capabilities.”

In the past, crews depended largely on verbal instructions and manual plotting, but the C295 now offers real-time data integration. Updated search grids, vessel tracks, and mission changes are displayed immediately on the flight deck, significantly reducing workload and decreasing overall mission time by over 60%.

As the crew heads back to Baldonnel, the wind starts to pick up again, highlighting Ireland's notoriously unpredictable weather. The C295 smoothly descends through the turbulence and lands effortlessly. Once the engines are shut down, the collected surveillance data is handed over to the MSC for analysis and distribution to the appropriate authorities.

As the aircraft is towed into the hangar, a rainbow stretches across the greying sky, an appropriate symbol of the Air Corps' lasting partnership with its reliable, all-weather platform. At the rainbow's end is not a mythical treasure, but something far more practical: the Irish Air Corps' dependable Airbus C295 MSA, prepared to take off once more into the Atlantic winds to serve Ireland's security.