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Defense will tackle the possible purchase of more Eurofighter next year
12/21/2018 | Madrid
Spain plans to take over from the F-18 Air Force during the next year.
The Ministry of Defense has informed that it will study
throughout 2019 the possible acquisition of more Eurofighter ,
as a substitute for US fighters.
The announcement came at the inter-ministerial meeting
on the Eurofighter program held late last week in Florence (Italy).
Specifically, the department details that in this meeting
"both Spain and Germany announced that next year they will consider
the option of ordering more Eurofighter
to replace their fleets of F-18 and Tornado, respectively."
The intention of the partners to place new orders for aircraft next year,
together with the promotion of the export campaigns of the fighter,
is key to guarantee the new evolutions foreseen
in the aircraft and the future of the project.
Spain and Germany are in a very similar situation.
Both countries have to make a decision soon
on the model that will replace their fleets of F-18 and Tornado in the horizon of 2030.
The Spanish Air Force, for its part,
must replace before 2025 the 20 US F-18 fighters deployed in the base of Gando (Canary Islands),
and towards 2030,
the remaining 65 of the air bases of Torrejón de Ardoz and Zaragoza .
The Spanish government initially bought 87 Eurofighters -more than 16 optional-,
but the economic crisis reduced the final order to 73 units.
One option would be to recover the initial order,
that is, buy 30 new Eurofighter until reaching 103,
which would have to add a lot to be defined of about 10 or 20 fighters.
Therefore, according to these accounts, the package could reach 50 combat aircraft .
Current status of the Eurofighter program
As detailed by the Ministry of Defense,
the Air Force has received to date 69 Eurofighter of the 73 that
includes the contract with the European consortium manufacturer of the aircraft.
The remaining four will arrive next year.
This program received a few days ago an important boost
with the approval by the Government of a budget of 906 million euros
for the modernization of this fleet of combat fighters.
The departure will allow the installation of a new package of improvements P2E (Phase 2 Enhancement)
that involves the increase of air-air capacity and
a new radar, among other evolutions.
At the Florence meeting,
the evolution of their capabilities and the incorporation of the electronic scanning radar ( AESA ) were analyzed ,
as well as the relationship with the air combat system of the future ( Fcas / Ngws )
and the transformation of project management .