Paraguay's air force receives first Cessna SkyCourier in South America

Textron Aviation announced on 7 October that Paraguay's air force has taken delivery of a Cessna SkyCourier, the first military operator of the type in South America.

Itaipu Binacional, the binational body run by the governments of Brazil and Paraguay, paid for the aircraft. It will support multi-mission work including relief services and humanitarian aid across Paraguay.

The SkyCourier is a high-wing, twin-engine turboprop, originally designed to cut operating costs for air freight and developed with FedEx Express as launch customer. Textron is now pushing it further into defence and special mission roles.

Belgium placed the first order in that role in April 2026, buying five to support its special operations forces. Bob Gibbs, Textron's vice-president of defence and special mission sales, said low-cost maintenance suits high-utilisation missions such as medical and casualty evacuation, disaster relief and humanitarian aid.

Textron is also marketing the SkyCourier for defence logistics, presenting it as a way to move equipment faster and with less risk. As a freighter it can hold three LD3 shipping containers and carry roughly 2,722kg of payload. The passenger version seats up to 19 people.

In Paraguay the aircraft joins five Cessna Grand Caravans: three Cessna 208B Grand Caravans delivered between 2011 and 2019, and two larger, multi-mission Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft delivered in 2021.