Patrol Planes of the Caribbean

From Aviation Week ARES Blog

Patrol Planes of the Caribbean

Posted by Joris Janssen Lok at 2/18/2008 3:47 AM

After more than three years of interim solutions, maritime air surveillance flights by the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Coast Guard (NAACG) have reached a situation of stability with the arrival of a second Dash-8 patrol plane operated by Provincial Airlines of Canada.

The long-range maritime patrols for the NAACG from Hato Airport, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, were conducted by Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion aircraft of the Royal Netherlands Navy through 2005.

But when the Netherlands Government decided to sell its P-3C fleet (to germany and Portugal), a solution to meet the NAACG surveillance requirements had to be found.

Initially, Britain stepped in, providing two BAE Systems Nimrod MR2 patrol aircraft operated by the RAF.

Then, the RNLAF took over with a pair of specially-concerted Fokker 60U twin-turboprop transports, retrofitted with a telephonics sea surveillance radar, FLIR and command, control and communications equipment.

In the meantime, the Netherlands Government signed a deal with Provincial Airlines of Canada. This company converted two Dash 8 twin-turboprops for the maritime patrol role. The first of these arrived in October and the second is now also operational from Curacao.

The aircraft play a key role in counter-drugs operations in the Caribbean, interdicting drugs trafficking routes from Colombia. Another major mission is search and rescue.

Thirdly, the aircraft contribute to the overall situational awareness of the NAACG and the Royal Netherlands Navy command center at Curacao, which together with the islands of Aruba and Bonaire are located just miles from the Venezuelan coast.

The NAACG also operates around three additional islands that belong to the Netherlands Antilles: Saba, St. Eustace and St. Maarten. These are located east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The Fokker 60Us that were converted for maritime patrol have already returned to the Netherlands and, together with two standard Fokker 60Us, are presently being offered for sale, with Chile having been mentioned as a potential buyer.

[Posted here mainly because Provincial Airlines is a local Newfoundland company and one of the pilots in the program is a personal friend of mine].