Australia’s new dedicated search and rescue aircraft, the Bombardier Challenger CL-604 has officially entered service with the Austral...
Australia’s new dedicated search and rescue aircraft, the Bombardier Challenger CL-604 has officially entered service with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
This is the first of four Bombardier Challenger CL-604 jets and will be operated from Cairns. The second and third aircraft will come online in Perth and Melbourne in the coming months. An additional ancillary operational aircraft will also be based in Melbourne.
The new capability will improve Australia’s search and rescue response arrangements, which occupies about one tenth of the earth’s surface.
Cobham SAR Services Pty Ltd was awarded the contract to provide the aircraft and crew in October 2014, for a period of 12 years.
Under the contract, Cobham will acquire, modify, commission, operate and maintain four Bombardier Challenger CL-604 special mission jet aircraft to provide SAR capability over land and sea. The aircraft will be available for SAR tasking at short notice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Bombardier Challenger 604 is fitted with new generation sensors, high vision windows and air operable doors for aerial delivery of life saving equipment.
The onboard Sentient Vision’s Kestrel Maritime ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging) system, can automatically detect and highlight sea surface objects invisible to the naked eye in real time.
An air operable door enables the Challenger to deliver life-sustaining stores and communications equipment to those in distress.
The aircraft has a range of new technology on board including infra-red cameras to search
at night and sensors to complement the trained air search observers on board the planes.
The CL-604 has transit speed of the Challenger is M0.74/445 Knots True Airspeed (KTAS) to M0.8/490 KTAS.
With an endurance of 8 hours, it can fly to a distance of 3,086 nautical miles (5,715 kilometres).
