PM to visit Canada, finalize purchase of firefighting planes

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will travel to Canada later this week, where he will finalize a deal to purchase seven DHC-515 Firefighters, the newest water bombers built by De Havilland, Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper reported Wednesday. 

"The DHC-515 is an updated version of the CL-415 water bomber, which used to be built by Montreal's Bombardier. It has yet to enter production," Globe and Mail reported.

The red and yellow planes are used in several European countries, including France and Italy, where they are universally known as Canadairs, after the company that originally developed the amphibious tankers in the late 1960s.

Five of the seven planes in the Greek fleet would be purchased by the Greek government. The other two would be purchased by the European Union for its civil protection arm, known as rescEU, Globe and Mail reported. The last two...