New Airbus C295s for Spain
On 20 June 2023, the Spanish government cabinet approved a nine-year payment plan to finance the acquisition of sixteen new Airbus Defence and Space C295W aircraft.
The Spanish Ministry of Defence will acquire six C295W as a Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) and ten as a Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) for use with the Ejército del Aire (EdA, Spanish Air Force) . The contract is valued at €1,7 billion.
The new aircraft will replace the P-3M Orion, which has already been phased out in December 2022, respectively the CN235 MSA also known as Vigilancia Marítima (VIGMA, Maritime Surveillance). Currently, the EdA has eight CN235-100MSA surveillance aircraft in its inventory.
The C295MPA-W will be equipped with the latest-generation Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS) maritime mission suite, bringing together the input from radar, sensor turret, sonobuoys, magnetic anomaly detector (MAD), and electronic support measures (ESM) as required for maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), search and rescue (SAR), and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) protection.
The C295MSA-W will modified for maritime surveillance missions (VIGMA) and search and rescue missions.
Image by Airbus Defence and Space