Spain to Buy C295 Maritime Patrol and Surveillance Aircraft

Airbus Defence is inching closer towards signing a deal for C295 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and C295 maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA) with Spain.

“We welcome the decision taken by the Spanish Ministers Council and announced during Paris Air Show for the budget approval for the acquisition of 6 C295 MPA and 10 C295 MSA,” Jean-Brice Dumont, Head of Airbus Military Air Systems, announced in a tweet June 20.

C295 MPA is scheduled to replace the Lockheed P-3 Orion that is being retired by the Spanish Air Force. Airbus proposed the MSA variant to replace the service's CN235 platform.

The C295 MPA 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.