Construction of the first Canadair 515 earmarked for Greece is already underway in Canada, with the first photographs now reaching the public. The firefighting aircraft is expected to be delivered by 2028, significantly boosting the country’s capacity to fight wildfires.
Its major advantage is the ability to operate at night, when most aerial firefighting assets are grounded due to limited visibility. This means it will be able to continue suppression work, offering valuable support to ground crews, who until now have fought nighttime blazes almost entirely on their own.
The Canadair 515, built by De Havilland Canada, represents the new generation of amphibious firefighting aircraft and the successor to the well known CL-415. It was designed specifically for tackling wildfires, with advanced capabilities and modern technological systems.
Images from the aircraft’s construction stages have now been made public. As they show, the Greek flag has already been painted on one section of the plane.
As part of a joint European program to strengthen wildfire response, Greece is expected to acquire a total of seven Canadair 515 aircraft by 2031, considerably reinforcing its aerial fleet and operational readiness against increasingly demanding large scale fire conditions.
Greece’s seven aircraft are the largest single allocation in an initial EU order of more than 20 planes, and Greece will make two of them available to other EU countries through the Civil Protection Mechanism during major emergencies. Total orders across Europe have since grown to about 40 aircraft.
