Article Posted on : - Jun 17, 2010

CN-235 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA).

MADRIS (BNS): Airbus Military has ferried two CN-235 aircraft from its San Pablo (Seville) airbase to the Mexican Navy’s Tapachula airbase in Mexico.

The new CN-235 Maritime Patrol versions (MPA) aircraft will join the fleet of seven C212 MPAs already in service with the Mexican Navy.

The aircraft have greater range, higher resistance and a more modern technology which eases crew workload. The aircraft will support Mexican Navy to expand its maritime traffic surveillance, as well as its border and other control missions.

The Fully Integrated Tactical (FITS) mission system fitted in the CN-235 aircraft will allow the Mexican navy to detect, track and classify small boats used for drug trafficking and smuggling. It will also control the Exclusive Economic Zone or carry out search and rescue missions.

This FITS system analyses the information provided by several different surveillance sensors and provides it to the crew in an intelligent way. It is displayed on two operator consoles and a cockpit tactical display on the CN-235.

Mexican Navy was the first to operate the FITS mission system from 2004.