By Robert Wall 

Airbus Group SE on Thursday said it had secured a deal with the Canadian government to provide a new fleet of search-and-rescue planes.

The Royal Canadian Air Force will buy 16 C295W turboprop transport planes to fill the role, the Toulouse, France-based plane maker said.

Italy's Leonardo-Finmeccanica SpA had also bid for the program.

Airbus said the Canadian planes will be delivered three years after the contract is finalized.

The Canadian government said the contract covered an 11-year period, with a pretax value of 2.4 billion Canadian dollars ($1.8 billion). Canada said the deal includes options which could boost the contract's value by another C$4.7 billion.

The order marks the second recent significant decision by Canadian defense officials on the country's fleet of aircraft. Late last month, Canada said it would hold talks with Boeing Co. to buy 18 F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft as an interim measure in a planned overhaul of the country's legacy CF-18 fighter jet fleet.

Paul Vieira contributed to this article.

Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 08, 2016 12:45 ET (17:45 GMT)