P.180 Avanti II EVO Joins 402 Squadron of the RTAF

03 Mei 2019

A single Piaggio P.180 Avanti EVO is in servce with 402 Squadron (photo : Thai Ranger)

Patrol aircraft Piaggio P.180 Avanti II EVO stationed at 402 Squadron, at Takhli airbase, which is an aerial reconnaissance aircraft that replaces the flight surveillance aircraft Learjet 35A that has been decomissioned.

There is information that the P.180 transport aircraft that are supplied from Italy will be changed to a new machine and transferred to another unit. By removing the patrol device, taking pictures from the air from the hole that penetrated the side of the secret body, which will be clear in the new mission and the aircraft to replace the original mission in the future.

It is understood that this case was due to the Italian company Piaggio Aerospace, who was manufacturing the machine, was in trouble near bankruptcy. After the United Arab Emirates canceled the provision of a P.1HH unmanned aircraft HammerHead and the Italian Ministry of Defense had no plans to recruit in the Italian army itself.

402 Squadron currently operates two type aircraft, another type is Diamond DA42M MPP (photo : Mark Rourke)

This story reminds us of the case of transportsAlenia G.222, the 6 machines that the Thai Air Force used to have in the past, which the Italian manufacturer Aeritalia (Alenia) went bankrupt, causing a shortage of spare parts for maintenance G222 until the Air Force had to decomissioned faster than it should be.

(AAG)