An Cosantóir

53 280 Before and after with new paint work representing 100 year Irish Air Corps Centenary markings. The three PC12NG Spectre's having just arrived in Baldonnel in September 2020 – notice the US registrations. Since the delivery of the PC-12 NG the tempo of op- erations has been high with a wide variety of mission profiles flown to date. The majority of these missions have been to destinations that crews were unfamiliar with. One of the more high-profile mission routes com- pleted in the last two years, was the delivery of Covid Samples to Munich & Birmingham for testing over an 18 month period, numerous Air Ambulance missions to the UK and Europe, Covid Vaccines delivery to UNIFIL personnel, Ministerial Air Transport flights, Forma- tion training and also the build-up of Mission System Operator training. It is hoped into the future that these versatile, reliable and high-tech aircraft will operate in an overseas Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnais- sance capacity. Concerning the technical side of the house, 103 and 402 Squadron have been kept busy, fulfilling mainte- nance tasks required to keep four aircraft airworthy and primed for operations on a daily basis. Throughout the delivery both 103 and 402 Squadron technicians were required to receive training from Pilatus in order to keep the aircraft airworthy, although after keeping the Cess- na fleet airworthy for 47 years I'm sure they all took it in their stride. The PC-12 fleet have already proved their worth, oper- ating as the main backbone of the Air Corps fleet for logistical tasks through the COVID-19 pandemic. Com- ing out the far side of it the aircraft are still extremely busy with military related logistical tasks as well as continuing to deliver a robust air ambulance platform. To fulfil its ISR and Air Ambulance tasking's, 281 282 & 283 were retrofitted by Pilatus in Denver Colorado with a suite of sensors including an electro optical/infra-red turret, additional radios and mission management sys- tems as well as the Life port stretcher system. The introduction of these new aircraft has been trans- formational to the Air Corps and to the state in fulfilling its roles as part of the white paper on defence. 104 Squadron Missions Stats Apr 2020 – Feb 2022 Air Ambulances 22 Logistics/Troop Transport 141 Ministerial Air Transport 5 Covid Operations 50 The four in service PC-12 aircraft have been utilised on a wide variety of missions to date since entry into service. Below is a map of some of the destinations as part of operational missions. 104 SQUADRON - OPERATION TRANSFORMATION Map of routes of missions undertaken by the PC 12 fleet.

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