Spain will acquire another batch of Eurofighter fighters for its Air Force. According to the magazine “Jane’s Defense Weekly”, Spanish government announces negotiations with Airbus Group.
Spain intends to replenish the Air Force with 20 Eurofighter fighters. A possible contract may be concluded in 2021 year. Eurofighter fighters planned for purchase should be part of the new Tranche 3+ / Tranche series 4. This purchase should be the first in the implementation of the project “Halcon” (“Falcon”) for replacement in the Spanish Air Force between 2025 by 2030 years of fighter Boeing EF-18A / Hornet. The delivery of the first fighters is scheduled for 2025 year.
first 20 Eurofighter planes will replace EF-18A / B fighters from the 461st squadron of the 46th wing of the Ganda air base in the Canary Islands. These EF-18A / B fighters are the oldest in the Spanish Air Force, they were built in the first half of the 80s of the last century and acquired from the presence of the US Navy.
Planned for delivery 20 Eurofighter Tranche 3+ / Tranche Fighter 4 will be equipped with a new airborne radar with AFAR CAPTOR-E Mod 1 , now created by Hensoldt and Indra.
To date, the Spanish Air Force in the period from 2005 by 2019 year received 73 Eurofighter fighter, of them 19 Tranche series aircraft 1, 34 Tranche series 2 and 20 Tranche 3A Series. Of this number in the ranks is 70 Eurofighter aircraft, also armed 85 EF-18A / B fighters.
Earlier, Spain refused to purchase American Lokheed Martin F-35A fighters for the Air Force, although the possibility of purchasing a batch of F-35B aircraft for the Spanish Navy is not ruled out.
