His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) graced a ceremony for the arrival of two of the four new C295MW aircraft for the Royal Brunei Air Force (RBAirF) at the Air Movement Centre, Rimba Air Force Base yesterday.
Upon arrival, His Royal Highness was greeted by Minister at the PMO and Minister of Defence II Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof; Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) Major General Dato Paduka Seri Haji Muhammad Haszaimi bin Bol Hassan and Commander of the RBAirF Brigadier General (U) Dato Seri Pahlawan Mohd Sharif bin Dato Paduka Haji Ibrahim.
His Royal Highness proceeded to Merpati Room for a short briefing and video presentation from Airbus Defence and Space.
To start the ceremony, His Royal Highness was invited to witness the traditional ceremonial “water salute” in honouring the arrival of both aircraft as they entered the Military Apron.
This was followed by a sujud syukur performed by the C295MW aircrew, as a gesture of gratitude to Allah the Almighty for a safe six-day long range transit journey from the manufacturing factory in Seville, Spain beginning on January 18.
To bless the ceremony, a Doa Selamat was read by Director of RBAF Religious Directorate (JAMA’AT) Commander Haji Ainolnizam bin Haji Ibrahim, RBN.
His Royal Highness was then introduced to the aircrew involved and invited for a familiarisation tour of the C295MW aircraft, followed by a photo session with the aircrew and group photo session.
His Royal Highness was presented with a pesambah before proceeding into Merbuk Room for a royal luncheon. His Royal Highness was then invited to sign the royal parchment before departing the Rimba Air Force Base.
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence (MinDef), Services Commanders, Acting Joint Force Commander RBAF, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the MinDef, senior officers of the RBAF and delegation from Airbus Defence and Space headed by Head of Region Asia-Pacific and China Zakir Hamid were also present at the ceremony. The Air Transport project contract was signed by the MinDef, on behalf of the Government of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, and Airbus Defence and Space on December 2, 2022 for the delivery of a fleet of four C295MW.
The arrival of the first two C295MW aircraft was the recent proceedings after the Customer Acceptance Test ceremony was signed at Airbus Defence and Space, Seville, Spain attended by the Minister at the PMO and Minister of Defence II, RBAF Commander and RBAirF Commander.
An introduction to the service ceremony will be held separately in the near future to officiate the C295MW aircraft into the service for the RBAirF.
The C295MW aircraft is capable of carrying out various strategic and tactical transport missions, both regionally and internationally including Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations, MEDEVAC (medical evacuations), NEO (non-combatant evacuation) operations and SAR (search and rescue) operations.
The aircraft is also configurable to perform various roles such as troop and cargo transport, VIP transport, freefall, airborne static jumps, cargo drops and MEDEVAC.
