Spain orders new Eurofighters

Under the Halcon II programme, Spain ordered 25 additional Eurofighter aircraft to replace the EF-18AM/BM Hornet currently in use with Ala 12 at Madrid/Torrejón Air Base and Ala 15 at Zaragoza Air Base. The Hornets will start to be decommissioned from 2030.

The new Eurofighters, all Tranche 4, incorporate major software upgrades, a redesigned cockpit dominated by a large color touch screen and the CAPTOR AESA E-Scan Mk1 radar. The proposed armament for the new fighters includes the GBU-31v1 JDAM INS/GPS-guided bomb, the German Taurus KEPD 350 long-range cruise missile, the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) and the dual-guided Brimstone ground attack missiles.

In June 2022, Scramble Magazine first reported on the Halcon programme. This programme, now dubbed as Halcon I, contained the acquiring of twenty Eurofighters to replace the ageing F/A-18+ Hornets of 462 Escuadrón at Gando Air Base, Las Palmas.

The photo shows a mock up of the Halcon II Eurofighter at Paris/Le Bourget in June 2023.

Credit photo: Eurofighter Typhoon (@eurofighter)