German manufacturer pitching variant of reworked regional turboprop at defence and parapublic sectors.
Deutsche Aircraft has high hopes for its latest generation D328eco in the European defence and parapublic market because it offers short take-off and landing capabilities that converted regional and business jet platforms cannot, as well as significantly lower purchase and operating costs, according to the German company.
Two special mission variants of the original Dornier 328 twin-turboprop are on display at ILA in Berlin this week, including a maritime patrol example operated by NL EASP Air, a specialist contractor in aerial surveillance, search and rescue, and coastguard operations.
Deutsche Aircraft, which is also displaying an uncrewed aircraft concept on its stand, is promoting the multi-mission variant of the D328eco as the D328MR.
“We are confident that the agility of a smaller fixed-wing aircraft such as the D328eco will pay off in this future emerging market,” says Wolfgang Kuhl, vice-president programmes & innovation at the Wessling-based airframer, a subsidiary of US defence contractor Sierra Nevada.
It says applications for the D328MR include medevac, surveillance, counter-uncrewed aerial systems and troop transport.
Deutsche Aircraft’s appearance at ILA comes as the company progresses to first flight of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127XT-S-powered variant, and, although that schedule recently appears to have slipped again from mid-2026 to “early 2027”, the manufacturer is sticking to its target of having the aircraft certificated by the end of next year.
When it rolled out the D328eco, minus its engines, in May last year, the company spoke about a maiden flight by the end of 2025.
“We have almost closed our industrialisation phase and have a mature supply chain,” says Kuhl. “The engines, propellers, and all key components for the flight-test aircraft have been delivered. We are moving rapidly to first flight.”
After developing the aircraft in its spiritual home of Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, the firm plans to assemble the Do328eco at a new factory in Leipzig. Changes to the original Do328 include the addition of a Garmin G5000 Prime flightdeck, redesigned landing gear, and a fuselage stretched by 2.1m (6.9ft) to accommodate 40 seats compared with 32 in its predecessor.
Sierra Nevada acquired the rights to the Do328 from 328 Support Services in 2015 and subsequently set up Deutsche Aircraft to relaunch the programme, which will compete directly with the ATR 42-600.
The post Deutsche Aircraft targets special mission market with D328MR first appeared on FlightGlobal.