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Saudi Arabia will acquire four Leonardo C-27J airlifters for maritime patrol, giving the kingdom a fixed-wing maritime patrol capability for the first time.
The aircraft, which will be operated by the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF), will be delivered from 2029 and equipped to perform both anti-ship and anti-submarine-warfare (ASW) missions.
Announcing the order on Feb. 16, Leonardo said the aircraft will be the first C-27Js procured with a maritime weapons capability. The company has not revealed which weapons will equip the platform.
Furthermore, the OEM has not said when the contract was finalized, but it is likely to have been firmed up during the World Defense Show held in Riyadh last week. Leonardo briefed journalists on a maritime patrol variant of the aircraft at the first edition of the show in 2022. The ability to carry weapons on the outer wings is part of a modification developed for the C-27J that allows the installation of winglets that reduce fuel consumption.
The order from Riyadh follows on from a contract for two C-27Js placed by Aloula Aviation—the aviation business of Saudi energy company Aramco—which was announced at last year’s Paris Air Show. Those aircraft will be configured for multi-mission duties including maritime patrol, oil spill response and aerial firefighting. They will be the first C-27Js flown by a commercial operator and will be delivered in 2027.
It is unclear where the RSNF’s purchase of the C-27J leaves Boeing’s hopes for a sale of the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), which the company has been marketing to Riyadh for nearly a decade.
Gulf states have generally performed maritime patrol or surveillance with helicopters and, more recently, with uncrewed aircraft systems. Oman uses four maritime patrol-equipped Airbus C295s, while the United Arab Emirates operates a pair of modified De Havilland Canada DHC-8-300s for the task.
Images of the ASW-configured C-27J show the aircraft with an extended tail cone housing a magnetic anomaly detection boom, weapons under the wings and a search radar beneath the fuselage. The C-27J MPA means Leonardo is now offering two maritime patrol platforms, as the company also adapts the ATR family of regional turboprops for the mission. Leonardo has previously said the C-27J option is better suited to customers operating in more demanding environments and requiring longer endurance in the range of nine to 12 hr. The C-27J also can be refueled in midair—a capability the ATR does not possess.
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