March 7, 2016: The oil rich African dictatorship Equatorial Guinea has become the latest nation (and second African one) to buy the AirBus twin-engine C295 commercial transport and use it for military purposes. One will be used as a transport (of troops and cargo) while the other will be used as for maritime surveillance. The first one will be delivered in 2016 and the other by 2017. Ghana already has one and is considering buying two more. Equatorial Guinea will probably use foreign contractors to maintain and operate the C295s because their armed forces have only 1,500 personnel.

The largest recent order was in 2015 when India paid $33.4 million each for 56 C295s. That order was placed based user experience with an aircraft that only entered service in 2001 and are manufactured in Spain.

The C295 is a 23 ton turboprop aircraft that can carry six tons for up to 2,200 kilometers. Top speed is 570 kilometers an hour and max payload is nine tons or 71 troops. Users note that the C295 is easy to maintain, stands up well to daily operation over long periods and copes with hot and dusty conditions. So far over 220 C295s have been delivered or ordered by 20 countries. About 140 are in service.