Paraguayan air force becomes first South American operator of Cessna SkyCourier
Textron is continuing its expansion of the SkyCourier within the special mission market.
Textron Aviation announced on 7 October that the Paraguayan air force has become the first South American military operator of the Cessna SkyCourier turboprop.
The purchase has been funded by Itaipu Binacional, the binational entity of the governments of Brazil and Paraguay, and will help support multi-mission operations, including relief services and humanitarian aid across the country.
The Cessna SkyCourier is a high-wing, twin-engine turboprop originally developed to lower operating costs for air freight, designed alongside launch customer FedEx Express. However, Textron is increasingly repositioning the aircraft towards the defence and special mission market.
The first sale of the SkyCourier in this capacity was to Belgium in April 2026, who placed an order for five of the carriers to support their special operational forces.
“Cost-effective maintenance makes it ideal for high-utilisation missions, from medical and casualty evacuation, disaster relief to humanitarian aid,” says Bob Gibbs, vice-president of defence & special mission sales at Textron.
Textron is also targeting defence logistics, pitching the SkyCourier as an agile supply tool to get equipment to where it is needed more quickly and with less risk. Within a freighter capacity, the SkyCourier can carry up to three LD3 shipping containers, featuring a total payload capacity of around 2722kg (6000 lbs).
Alternatively, the passenger variant seats up to 19 people.
The aircraft will join the Paraguayan air force’s fleet of five Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft: three original Cessna 208B Grand Caravans delivered between 2011 and 2019, plus two newer, larger, multi-mission Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft delivered in 2021.
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