Under an almost always bright blue sky and the hot summer sun, our Paris Air Show Diamond Crew talked with around 100 visitors each day about our aircraft’s advantages and possible co-operations.
There was a lot to see on the Diamond display: the complete Diamond Special Mission Fleet consisting of the DA42 MPP (Multi Purpose Platform), the DA62 MPP and the DART-550 complemented with a Diamond Command Compact Groundstation.
Perhaps the biggest sensation was the all-new DA62 MSA (Maritime Surveillance Aircraft), making its world debut at Paris Air Show. The aircraft is a joint development with the Italian high-tech aerospace company Leonardo to offer a cost-effective, customized maritime surveillance platform for short and medium range maritime and over-land surveillance missions. Equipped with Leonardo’s Gabbiano Ultra-Light TS Radar and a third-party Electro-Optic (EO/IR) system, it will be available to the market by the end of the year. Learn more about our latest special mission solution.
The aerobatic turboprop tandem trainer DART-550 was no less popular with the crowd, attracting lots of interested clients – at first sight maybe because of its stunning looks, but primarily because of an unbeatable value for money. The DART-550 features state-of-art glass cockpit technology with the Garmin G3000, world’s number one ejection seat brand Martin Baker and a 550 SHP General Electric turbine – all embedded in a full carbon fiber airframe. The DART-550 is currently undergoing EASA certification and type certificate is on track to be received by Q1/2021.
The aircraft display was completed with the so-called mother of all Diamond Special Mission Aircraft, the DA42 MPP, introduced in 2005. The version shown at Paris featured the Thales Avni WFOV system and an EO/IR Gimballed Turret Sensor System. In March this year our Special Mission Team succeeded in finalizing this configuration, the most complex one in Diamond’s history. A fleet of two DA42 MPP and two DA62 MPP, each designed and modified to be capable of carrying three different sensor configurations, was handed over to Thales UK. The Reconnaissance Pod mounted to the belly, carrying Thales Avni, was jointly developed with the engineering team from Thales. Check out more.
Also on display: A variant of Diamond’s in-house designed groundstation solutions, the Command Compact Station. It is easy to set-up everywhere and comprise several sophisticated devices, which can communicate and smoothly control the airborne sensors from the Diamond special mission aircraft. The perfect complement to the Diamond Special Mission fleet. Click for further information.
And there was another world debut, a quieter one, just like owls are: our brand-new Special Mission Design, which is designed around a short-eared owl. Short-eared owls are well-known for flying super silently and so do our special mission aircraft equipped with the in-house designed on-top exhaust system, that reduces the noise level by 21 decibels. Though, we are very happy with our remarkable new design and are looking forward to an awesome special mission merchandise collection, we haven’t found a name yet for our owl. If you do have an idea how we should call her, drop us an email under marketing@diamondaircraft.com.