The NRC National Research Council (Ottawa International) has placed an order for a Global 6500 with Bombardier Business Aircraft to support advanced research and development in the defence and dual-use sectors.
The purchase is part of a CAD900 million Canadian dollar (USD664 million) defence package announced by Ottawa and follows a separate order for VIP executive jets placed by the Government Of Canada, Department Of National Defence. That order covers six Global 6500s with options for four additional units.
The NRC's registered fleet currently comprises 10 aircraft, including a Convair CV-580, a Falcon 20C, a Falcon 200(HU-25A), a DHC-6-200, a Cessna 337G, a Canadair T-33, a North American Harvard IV, and three Bell Helicopters, namely a B205A, a B206B, and a B412. While still airworthy, the T-33 and Harvard IV have not been actively operated.
Of the NRC's two jets, the 1967-built Falcon 20C, C-FIGD (msn 109), based at Ottawa International, serves as a high-altitude flying testbed for scientific and aerospace research, while the 1980-built Falcon 200(HU-25A), C-FOGZ (msn 411), inducted in May and formerly operated by NASA Langley Research Center as N524NA, has not yet entered service.
The DHC-6-200 performs similar roles at lower altitudes, while the CV-580 acts as the largest flying laboratory for complex atmospheric and radar experiments. The Cessna 337 serves as a hybrid-electric testbed, and the helicopters are deployed in close-range experiments.
