De Havilland Canada DHC-515

Updated: October 2026 – Anyone who sees a yellow or red flying boat gliding across a bay on the Mediterranean in summer immediately thinks of the “Canadair”. But the CL-415 has not been built since 2015, and many aircraft are decades old. The answer is called the DHC-515: a modernized new edition from Canada that six EU countries have ordered together. Here you learn what sets the DHC-515 apart from its predecessor, who gets it, what rescEU has to do with it and when it will realistically fly in front of your lens.

What is the DHC-515?

The DHC-515 is a twin-engine amphibious aircraft built exclusively for aerial firefighting. As with its predecessor, the crew lands on a lake, a reservoir or the sea, scoops up water while skimming and takes off again immediately toward the fire. This way of working is what makes the flying boat so effective: as long as a body of water is nearby, it does not have to return to an airfield between drops. The manufacturer stresses that the type is designed from the ground up as an amphibious firefighting aircraft.

Technically the DHC-515 follows directly on from the Canadair CL-415. Its history goes back via the piston-engine predecessor, the CL-215, to 1967. Bombardier ended CL-415 production in 2015, and in 2016 Viking Air took over the type certificate. From 2019 the company examined a return to series production with a modernized version, initially called the CL-515. Today the program belongs to De Havilland Canada, the manufacturer behind the Twin Otter and Dash 8. On March 31, 2022 the company officially launched the project under the name DHC-515 Firefighter – simultaneously in Calgary and Brussels, which made the European focus clear. In current announcements the aircraft appears as the De Havilland Canadair 515, a nod to the traditional name.

What is new compared with the CL-415?

If you expect a revolution, you will be disappointed – and that is intentional. Operators have known the concept for decades, and pilots, mechanics and operating procedures are well rehearsed. De Havilland Canada therefore kept the proven basic form and focused mainly on three areas.

The core figures stay almost the same: according to the manufacturer’s data sheet, the tank holds 6,137 liters of water, filling takes about twelve seconds, and the aircraft can scoop water even in waves up to two meters. At the program launch, De Havilland Canada also cited a possible drop volume of almost 700,000 liters per day when the water source and the fire are close together. Such figures apply under favorable conditions; in real operations, distance, wind and visibility determine the pace.

Feature	CL-415	DHC-515
Basic concept	Flying boat with wingtip floats	Flying boat with wingtip floats
Production	1993–2015 at Canadair/Bombardier	New production at De Havilland Canada
Cockpit	1990s avionics standard	Completely modernized flight deck
Firefighting water	about 6,100 l	6,137 l according to the manufacturer
Water scooping	about 12 seconds	about 12 seconds
Status October 2026	in service, including in southern Europe	in production, delivery planned from 2028

The manufacturer gives the dimensions as 19.8 meters in length, 28.6 meters in wingspan and 9.02 meters in height – so practically the same as its predecessor. At normal cruise speed the DHC-515 travels at 333 km/h; for ferry flights it covers about 2,333 kilometers with full tanks.

How to identify the DHC-515

To be honest: from the outside you will hardly be able to tell a DHC-515 from a CL-415. The silhouette is the same, the innovations are inside. It is still worth mastering the features of the family so that you can separate it from other firefighting aircraft.

We could not reliably document an official ICAO type designator specifically for the DHC-515 by press time. The CL-415 is listed in tracking services as CL2T – whether the new edition gets the same or its own code is best checked once the first aircraft are flying. How to read registrations and look them up in databases is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations; the age of an aircraft in particular is the subject of How old is this aircraft?.

The joint European order

What is special about the DHC-515 is the way Europe bought it. Instead of each country negotiating individually, six states joined forces. At the program launch in 2022, letters of intent for the first 22 aircraft were in place. The contracts are handled as a government-to-government deal through the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Canadian government agency.

By July 2024, Greece, Croatia and Portugal had signed, followed by Spain, Italy and France. How the 22 aircraft are distributed among the individual countries has not been published by the manufacturer; according to media reports, Greece and Spain are the largest buyers. On June 4, 2026, the French government announced a follow-up order for two more aircraft for the Sécurité Civile, which thereby doubles its share.

Country	Operator of today’s Canadair	Link to the DHC-515
France	Sécurité Civile	Launch customer, increased by two aircraft in June 2026
Italy	Fire service (Vigili del Fuoco)	Part of the joint EU order
Spain	Air force, 43 Grupo	Part of the joint EU order
Greece	Air force	Contract signed by July 2024
Croatia	Air force	Contract signed by July 2024
Portugal	no Canadairs of its own so far	Contract signed by July 2024

rescEU: firefighting aircraft for all of Europe

Behind part of the order stands rescEU, the strategic reserve of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. When a country reaches its limits in a major fire, it can request help through the mechanism; if the offers from the other states are not enough, rescEU steps in. So far the aerial component consisted mainly of national aircraft whose readiness the EU co-finances.

That changes with the DHC-515. For a permanent rescEU fleet, the EU is funding twelve new firefighting aircraft to be stationed in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Greece. The European Commission names the first deliveries in early 2028 as the target. The aircraft will be operated by the host countries and deployed following a joint decision by the Commission and the states affected – so also far outside their home country.

For you as a spotter that is exciting: a rescEU aircraft stationed in Croatia can just as well show up over Greece, Portugal or the Balkans in summer. The movements of these aircraft will therefore be more varied than those of the purely national fleets.

Canada is also betting on the DHC-515

Interest is growing in the manufacturer’s home country too. According to De Havilland Canada, the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta have signed contracts for the DHC-515; Manitoba had already confirmed its intention to buy in June 2025. The manufacturer did not state unit numbers and delivery dates for the provinces in its production announcement. In addition there is a discussion about a national water bomber fleet for Canada, which De Havilland Canada publicly lobbied for in summer 2026.

Where and how the DHC-515 is built

Final assembly takes place in Calgary, where De Havilland Canada had already based the support of the CL-215 and CL-415. At the program launch the company announced it would hire more than 500 people for this. Parts come from other Canadian sites of the manufacturer.

In July 2024 the manufacturer reported that the DHC-515 was in production. On March 10, 2026 a concrete progress update followed: the cockpit and fuselage of the first aircraft have been joined in Calgary to form the forward fuselage section, and the first wing box, 28.6 meters long, is finished. In July 2026 the company published another video on production progress. We did not find a date for the first flight in the manufacturer announcements we reviewed.

DHC-515 or another firefighting aircraft?

In major fires, different types often work at the same time. The finder helps you quickly classify the silhouette in the sky.

If you want to tell turboprops apart more reliably in general, the guide Telling turboprops apart covers the most important features. The smaller siblings from the same company – such as the DHC-6 Twin Otter or the DHC-2 Beaver – also often fly on floats, but are single-engine or much smaller respectively and have no boat hull.

Spotting outlook: when and where you will see it

In short: in 2026 not at all yet, from 2028 initially only a few. If you want to be there early, keep an eye on the operators’ news. The French firefighting fleet is based at Nîmes-Garons, the Spanish Canadairs belong to the air force with home base Torrejón near Madrid, and the Greek aircraft also fly with the air force. Where exactly the new DHC-515s get their bases is up to the operators.

As with the CL-415, your best chances come in summer. During the fire season, firefighting aircraft are stationed at civil and military airfields around the Mediterranean – regions around Marseille, Athens, Split, Zagreb, Lisbon or Madrid are among the candidates where, with luck, you can observe the Canadair family. How to combine such destinations with a vacation is shown in Plane spotting on vacation and Planning a spotting vacation.

Photo tips for the new flying boat

Once the DHC-515 flies, the same basic rules apply as for its predecessor – with one extra: factory-new aircraft with a fresh livery are a highlight for any collection.

You can work out in advance when the sun is right at your shoreline spot – how that works is shown in Planning the sun position for your photo spot. With the sun position planner in Planetrack you see the direction of the light right on the spot map. And because the fire season falls in the hottest weeks, a look at Plane spotting in summer is worthwhile.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The DHC-515 is not a new silhouette in the sky but the continuation of a legend with modern technology. For Europe it is a milestone: six states ordered together, and with twelve EU-funded aircraft rescEU gets a permanent firefighting fleet for the first time. Until the first aircraft are delivered in 2028, the CL-415 and CL-215 carry the main load. After that it gets exciting for spotters to get the first factory-new “Canadair” in over ten years into the hangar.