Spain to buy 24 Pilatus PC-21 turboprop aircraft under € 205 Million contract

The Pilatus PC-21 to replace the Spanish Air Force Casa 101 fleet for basic pilot training.

Spain to buy 24 Pilatus PC-21 turboprop aircraft under € 205 Million contract.

Spain has chosen Pilatus PC-21 high-performance turboprop aircraft to replace the Spanish Air Force's Casa Aviojet C-101 jet trainers. The PC-21 won over the Beechcraft T-6A Texan II and Embraer Super Tucano.

Spain's decision was announced on November 26 on the Government's procurement platform, Plataforma de Contratacion del Sector Publico (PCSP), but has not yet been officially announced by the Spanish Ministry of Defense.

According to PCSP, Pilatus will supply 24 PC-21 trainer aircraft and its Integrated Training System (ITS) under a contract worth 204.75 million euros. The ITS will include an emergency ejection trainer, two cockpit simulators and two network-connected flight simulators, as well as an initial logistics package.

The delivery schedule is very tight, since the first C-101s will begin to be withdrawn starting from September 2021. The first six PC-21s and a simulator will be delivered by March 2020 to allow the training of the first eight instructors . The PC-21 will be named E.27 by the Spanish Air Force.

No decision has yet been taken about the replacement of Spain's Northrop SF-5M Freedom Fighters, currently used for advanced training. A possible scenario could include the purchase of the M-346 as per our previous analysis.

Written by Matteo Sanzani