Leonardo to supply C-27J Spartan to Azerbaijan Air Force.

Leonardo on June 9 announced that the commercial collaboration between Italy and Azerbaijan has been strengthened with the signing of the contract for the supply of the C-27J Spartan. An Azerbaijani delegation was in Italy for the contract signing in the presence of representatives of the Defence Ministers of the two countries.

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Leonardo C-27J Spartan  (Picture source: Army/Air Recognition)

Initially linked to the energy sectors, the collaboration between Italy and Azerbaijan is now also extended to defence industry products thanks to the valuable contribution provided by the Italian Ministry of Defence working group. The programme for the purchase of the C-27J from Leonardo was finalized through a technical round table between the Italian Ministry of Defence and its Azeri counterpart. The agreement is part of the extensive modernisation programme of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, which are increasingly looking to the products of Italian industry.

The C-27J Spartan has been developed and manufactured by Leonardo's Aircraft Division (formerly Alenia Aermacchi until 2016). It is an advanced derivative of Alenia Aeronautica's earlier G.222 (C-27A Spartan in U.S. service), equipped with the engines and various other systems also used on the larger Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules. In addition to the standard transport configuration, specialized variants of the C-27J have been developed for maritime patrol, search and rescue, C3 ISR (command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), fire support/ground-attack and electronic warfare missions. The aircraft can reach a maximum speed of 362 knots (676 km/h) and achieve a range of over 1,000 nautical miles (1,852 km).