Spain orders Airbus aircraft for maritime surveillance, patroling

The Spanish military has ordered 16 Airbus C295 aircraft to be deployed for maritime patrol and surveillance, an order worth approx. €1,7 billion.

As the Defense News publication reported, France's Airbus has announced news of this transaction on December 20.

Six out of those maritime patrol variants will come equipped for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare missions, replacing the Spanish P-3 Orion fleet that retired at the end of 2022, Airbus said. Equipment for each of these aircraft includes a magnetic anomaly detector and sonobuoys for submarine detection; a multimode radar for long-range target detection; and satellite communications technology.

The latest batch of aircraft will also be capable of carrying weapons, including torpedoes, and will be “highly connected” so they can operate as flying command-and-control centers.

The remaining 10 C295 aircraft in the maritime surveillance configuration are to replace Spain’s aging CN-235 fleet, which entered operations in 1988, according to the Spanish Air Force.

The planes are designed to be used for anti-smuggling, anti-illegal migration and anti-drug trafficking operations, as well as search and rescue missions.

Spain already operates a fleet consisting of 13 C295 aircraft in a transport configuration, and the two maritime versions will have a high degree of synergy, the French manufacturer said.

The assembly of this order will take place at the Airbus military facilities in Seville, Spain. The country expects to receive the first C295 in the maritime patrol configuration in 2027 while the first surveillance configuration will follow the year after and delivery of the final aircraft in 2031.