Aviation News – June 2018

A

lthough largely a user of

American-made jet  ghters since

the 1950s, the Spanish Air Force

was an enthusiastic founding

partner of the Euro ghter programme

in the 1980s, along with the UK, West

Germany and Italy. Participation in the

project was Madrid’s next logical step to

supplement its large  eet of McDonnell

Douglas F/A-18 Hornets. At the start of the

production phase in the late 1990s, Spain

had planned to acquire 87 Euro ghter

Typhoons, but the order was later reduced

to 73, after the last scheduled batch of 14

Tranche 3B aircraft was cancelled in 2009.

The 73 aircraft consisted of 72 examples

destined for operational units, plus the IPA.

devolvement aircraft operated by Airbus

Defence and Space.

Spain’s  rst three Typhoons were

delivered from the Getafe Euro ghter

Rodrigo Rodríguez

Costa reviews

the Eurofi ghter

Typhoon in

Spanish service.

TYPHOONS

REIGN IN SPAIN

20 Aviation News incorporating Jets June 2018

Spanish Typhoons occasionally

visit the UK for exercises or to appear

at major airshows. This example,

C.16-26 ‘11-06’ of Ala 11, displayed

at Fairford in 2006. Key Collection

20-24_spanish_typhoonsDC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDC.mf.indd 20 03/05/2018 16: