Morocco Set to Receive First Airbus C295W Military Transport Aircraft

Marraekch – Morocco’s Royal Air Force is on the verge of receiving its first Airbus C295W military transport aircraft. A photograph published on May 12 revealed the completed airframe at the Airbus Defense and Space assembly plant in Seville, Spain. The aircraft carries the registration CN-AMT and the serial number 253.

According to converging Spanish military sources, Morocco has ordered a minimum of two C295W aircraft. Rabat has not officially disclosed the total number of units in the contract. The aircraft are intended primarily for tactical transport missions and will be integrated into the Royal Air Force’s existing fleet.

Morocco has procured significant volumes of military equipment from Spain as part of the broader rapprochement between the two countries. The C295W order fits squarely within that framework.

The new aircraft will join a transport fleet that currently includes six CN-235s, four C-27J Spartans, and fourteen C-130H Hercules.

The C295W is not intended to replace the aging C-130H fleet. The two models belong to different weight categories and serve distinct operational requirements. The C295W will instead complement and strengthen Morocco’s medium tactical airlift capacity.

Morocco also received a second batch of seven Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters at Cap Draa near Tan-Tan on May 8, during the closing ceremony of African Lion 2026. The delivery follows a first lot of six received in March 2025. Both are part of a 24-unit, $4.25 billion order placed in 2020.

The C295W represents a direct evolution of the CN-235, originally developed in the 1980s through a partnership between Spain’s CASA – now Airbus Defense and Space – and Indonesia’s IPTN.

The newer model features a fuselage three meters longer than its predecessor, a reinforced airframe, and more powerful Pratt & Whitney PW127G engines. It also incorporates winglets at the wingtips, which reduce fuel consumption by three to six percent and improve takeoff performance in hot and high-altitude conditions.

In terms of payload, the C295W can carry up to 7,050 kilograms under normal conditions and approximately nine tons at maximum capacity. That compares with six tons for the CN-235.

Troop capacity rises from 51 passengers and 35 paratroopers on the CN-235 to 70 soldiers or 48 paratroopers on the C295W. This gives Morocco greater flexibility in managing airlift missions across the light-to-heavy transport spectrum.

The Moroccan order also coincides with a parallel acquisition by neighboring Algeria. Earlier this year, Algiers placed an order for eight C295 aircraft valued at €385.2 million. Those units will also be assembled at the Airbus facility in Seville. Algeria already operates five C295s, bringing its projected fleet to thirteen.

The simultaneous acquisition by both North African air forces of the same platform from the same production line in Seville is no coincidence. It reflects an intensifying competition for tactical airlift supremacy across the Mediterranean basin.

In that sense, Morocco’s move to secure its own C295W units signals that Rabat is unwilling to concede any operational gap in a domain where force projection and rapid troop deployment increasingly define regional power dynamics.

In a neighborhood where strategic parity is not a luxury but a necessity, Morocco is making clear it intends to match – and where possible outpace – any capability buildup across its eastern border.

Meanwhile, at the same Seville plant, Airbus is advancing production on a separate C295 program for Spain’s own Air Force. The company recently completed the first power-on of a C295 maritime patrol variant under a €1.695 billion contract signed in December 2023.

That program covers sixteen aircraft – eight in a maritime patrol configuration and eight in a maritime surveillance variant – with the first deliveries expected in late 2026.

The acquisition carries a clear political dimension. Madrid’s recognition in 2022 of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara as the sole basis for resolving the territorial dispute accelerated what many observers now describe as a full-blown honeymoon between the two kingdoms, despite unresolved friction over Ceuta and Melilla and persistent anti-Morocco rhetoric from Spain’s far-right.