The Fuerza Aérea del Peru (FAP) will shortly be bolstering its transport and support capacity, in addition to selecting its future fighter aircraft soon due to replace the initial-generation MiG-29s in service. To this end, the FAP intend to acquire two Leonardo C-27J Spartan twin-engine tactical transport aircraft, thus doubling its existing fleet of two already in service since 2015. To this aim, talks have begun with the Italian aircraft manufacturer Leonardo, while at the same time a financial search is underway for the budgetary resources needed to implement the FAP C-27J fleet expansion plan. With this in mind, the forthcoming 2025 budget law should enable Peru to move ahead with the signing of a contract with Leonardo defining delivery and equipment deadlines, therefore making the Andean air force one of the world’s leading operators of the C-27J.
Two copies of this modern aircraft currently serve with Escuadrón de transporte nº 841 del Grupo aéreo nº 8 at Callao air base, close to the harbor city of Calao on the Pacific Ocean south of Lima.A distant derivative of the Fiat G.222, Leonardo’s C-27J Spartan is an aircraft capable of carrying out a wide range of defense and civil protection missions. The vast operational experience accumulated by C-27J crews in various air forces around the world makes it the ideal medium-lift aircraft for military transport missions, dropping paratroopers and equipment, providing close tactical support to troops on operations or discreetly accompanying special forces, but also as an all-terrain “truck” for humanitarian aid and support of disaster-stricken populations during environmental disasters such as floods or volcano eruptions so common in Peru.
