Spanish Air and Space Force

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Spanish Air and Space Force
Ejército del Aire y del Espacio
Per aspera ad astra
  • "Through hardships to the stars"
  • MarchSpanish Air and Space Force Anthem
    Anniversaries10 December
    Engagements
    Websiteejercitodelaire.defensa.gob.es
    Commanders
    A400M

    The Spanish Air and Space Force (SASF) (Spanish: Ejército del Aire y del Espacio, lit.'Army of the Air and Space') is the aerial and space warfare branch of the Spanish Armed Forces.

    History

    Early stages

    Plus Ultra at Palos de la Frontera

    dirigible in the Army Military Aerostatics Service, created in 1896 and located in Guadalajara
    . The new airship was completed successfully and, named 'España', made numerous test and exhibition flights.

    The

    Ministry of Public Works and Transport
    (Ministerio de Fomento).

    The established institution became militarized under the name Aeronáutica Española when Colonel Pedro Vives was chosen to lead it as director of the Aeronáutica Militar, Military Aeronautics, the name of the air arm of the Spanish Army. Captain Alfredo Kindelán was named Chief of Aviation, Jefe de Aviación.[3]

    On 17 December 1913, during the war with Morocco, a Spanish expeditionary squadron of the Aeronáutica Española became the first organized military air unit to see combat during the first systematic bombing in history by dropping aerial bombs from a Lohner Flecha (Arrow) airplane on the plain of Ben Karrix in Morocco.[3][4] During the years that followed, most of the military activity of the Spanish Air Force would take place in Northern Morocco.

    In 1915 Spain's first seaplane base was opened at

    Los Alcazares on the Mar Menor in the Murcia region and Alfredo Kindelán was named Military Aeronautics Director, displacing Pedro Vives. The Catalan Flying School was established in Can Tunis, Barcelona the following year and Getafe Aerodrome became a full-fledged military air base. In 1919 General Francisco Echagüe
    replaced Kindelán as leader of the Aeronáutica Española.

    In 1920 two

    Frontal façade of the Spanish Air and Space Force headquarters in Madrid

    In 1921, following the

    Rif War
    ended.

    In 1926 a crew of Spanish aviators, that included

    Breguet 19
    and known as the Escuadrilla Elcano or "Elcano Squadron".

    In 1930 the Aeronaval Base in

    cadastral surveys of Spain were carried out using modern methods of aerial photography in 1933. The following year Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva took off and landed on seaplane carrier Dédalo with his autogyro C-30P. In 1934 Commander Eduardo Sáenz de Buruaga
    became new chief-commander of the air force.

    Following a Government decree dated 2d October 1935, the Dirección General de Aeronáutica was placed under the authority of the War Ministry, Ministerio de la Guerra, instead of under the Presidencia del Gobierno, following which in 1936 the Air Force regional units became restructured. Accordingly, the Spanish Navy-based Escuadra model was replaced by Región Militardivisions which are still operative today.[6]

    Air warfare in the Spanish Civil War

    After the military rebellion that triggered the Spanish Civil War, Spanish military aviation was divided into the Air Force of the Spanish republican government and the National Aviation (Aviación Nacional), established by the rebel army.

    Spanish Cierva C.30 autogyro

    In July 1936, right after the coup, the first German

    Fascist Italy reversed the situation. In September 1936 the Navy and Air Ministry, Ministerio de Marina y Aire, and the Air Undersecretariat, Subsecretaria del Aire were established under the command of Indalecio Prieto as minister. The first serious air combat took place over Madrid when Italian bombers attacked the city in a massive bombing operation.[6] In the reorganization of the military in the areas of Spain that had remained loyal to the government, the new military structure of the republic merged the Aeronáutica Militar and the Aeronáutica Naval, the former being the air arm of the Spanish Republican Army and the latter the naval aviation of the Spanish Republican Navy, and formed the Spanish Republican Air Force.[7] The Republican tricolor roundel was replaced by red bands for identification purposes, an insignia that had previously been used on Aeronáutica Naval aircraft during the monarchy in the 1920s, before the time of the Republic.[8][9]

    Many innovative, and often lethal, aeronautical bombing techniques were tested by Germany's Condor Legion forces on Spanish soil against the areas that remained loyal to the Republican Government with the permission of Generalísimo Franco. Nazi help to the Nationalist Air Force was part of Hitler's

    Guernica in 1937, known by the Luftwaffe as Operation Rügen, Hitler insisted that his longterm designs in Spain were peaceful. He called his strategy "Blumenkrieg" (Flower War), as evidenced in a January 1937 speech.[10] The international outcry over Guernica, however, would not bring about any increase in the military help provided to the beleaguered Spanish Republic.The pilots of the Spanish Republican Air Force, often young and poorly trained were unable to check the Nazi German and Fascist Italian modern-warfare attacks. Despite Franco's claim that both air forces were equal, and despite the help of foreign pilots, Spanish Republican planes were mostly obsolete and often in a bad state of disrepair. Even after acquiring more planes from the Soviet Union in the mid-stages of the war, the Spanish Republican Air Force was no longer able to control the Spanish skies nor match the power of the German and Italian expeditionary forces in specific combat situations.[11]

    The Spanish Republican Air Force became practically irrelevant after the Battle of the Ebro in 1938 when the root of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces was broken.[12] Finally it was completely disbanded after the victory on April 1, 1939.

    Post-Civil War era

    A Spanish Hispano HA-200 "Saeta" (Bolt)

    The present Spanish Air Force (Ejército del Aire, or EdA) was officially established on 7 October 1939, after the end of the

    fin flash, the tail insignia of Franco's air force, as well as of the Aviazione Legionaria of Fascist Italy and the Condor Legion of Nazi Germany, is still in use in the present-day Spanish Air Force.[13]

    After the changes introduced at the beginning of Franco's regime the Air Regions and their Command centres were the following:

    • 1st Air Region. Central.
    • 2nd Air Region. Straits.
    • 3rd Air Region. East.
    • 4th Air Region. Pyrenees.
    • 5th Air Region. Atlantic.
    • Balearic Islands Air Zone
    • Morocco Air Zone
    • Canary Islands and West Africa Air Zone
    Former F-104 Starfighter of the Spanish Air Force

    The

    JG 27 Afrika of the VIII Fliegerkorps, Luftflotte 2.[14]

    During the first years after World War II the Spanish Francoist Air Force consisted largely of German and Italian planes and copies of them. An interesting example was the HA-1112-M1L Buchón (Pouter), this was essentially a licensed production of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 re-engined with a Rolls-Royce Merlin 500-45 for use in Spain.[15]

    In March 1946 the first Spanish military paratroop unit, the Primera Bandera de la Primera Legión de Tropas de Aviación, was established in

    ]

    Although in sheer numbers the EdA was impressive, at the end of World War II technically it had become more or less obsolete due to the progress in aviation technology during the war. For budget reasons Spain actually kept many of the old German aircraft operative well into the 1950s and 1960s. As an example the last

    CASA in the 1950s.[18]

    Links were established in the 1950s with the United States. Spain received its first jets, like the

    F-5 Freedom Fighter

    Present times

    Spanish Dassault Mirage F1

    After the death of dictator Franco in 1975 and the ensuing

    EF-18As dropped laser-guided bombs on Bosnian Serb ammunition depots at Pale, on 25 and 26 May 1994.[22]

    EF-18A taking off and banking to the left on 2015

    The Spanish Air and Space Force is replacing older aircraft in the inventory with newer ones including

    EADS CASA makes the Eurofighter's right wing and leading edge slats,[23] and participates in the testing and assembly of the airlifter.[24]

    Unlike the air forces of most major

    AEW&C
    aircraft.

    Its aerobatic display team is the

    Eurocopter EC-120 Colibrí
    .

    In July 2014 the Spanish Air Force joined the European Air Transport Command, headquartered at Eindhoven Airbase in the Netherlands.[26]

    The Spanish Government announced in June 2022 that the Spanish Air Force would be renamed as the Spanish Air and Space Force.[27]

    On January 9, 2024, the Space Command was formally established.[28]

    Organization

    The basic organization of the Air and Space Force is the following:

    • Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force
      (JEMAE)
      • Air and Space Force Headquarters (CGEAE) in Madrid
      • Combat Air Command (MACOM) at Torrejón Air Base
      • General Air Command (MAGEN) in Madrid
      • Canary Islands Air Command (MACAN) in Las Palmas
      • Logistic Support command (MALOG) in Madrid
      • Personnel Command (MAPER) in Madrid
      • Economic Affairs Directorate (DAE) in Madrid

    Force structure

    The main operational formation of the SAF is the ala (wing), roughly equivalent to an army brigade. An ala is normally composed of three grupos (groups, army regiment equivalents) - an operations group called Grupo de Fuerzas Aéreas (Air Force Group, shortened to Grupo and followed by a numerical) including the aviation squadrons and a flight operations support squadron. An operations group is normally composed of two or three escuadrones (squadrons), each one normally consisting of 18 to 24 aircraft. Thus, Ala 15, with its base in Zaragoza Air Base, is formed by two squadrons with 18 F/A-18s each. Another group within the wing is the Grupo de Material, providing maintenance and repairs to the aircraft, their weapons and systems. The Grupo de Apoyo completes the typical wing structure and it is the air base group, providing the functioning of the air base as a military installation. A variation of the wing structure is the Ala 11 in Morón de la Frontera air base, which has not one, but two operational groups. The Grupo 11 operates Eurofighter aircraft in the multi-mission fighter role, while the Grupo 22 operates P-3 Orion aircraft in the maritime patrol and ASW role and correspondingly there are two separate maintenance squadrons for the two aircraft types.[29]

    Smaller operational units are the separate groups. They are also army regiment equivalents, but unlike the wings they are composite units, in which the operational aircraft, the maintenance and the air base squadrons report directly to the group. Such example is the 47/o. Grupo Mixto de Fuerzas Aéreas (47th Air Force Composite Group) a mixed intelligence, electronic warfare and aerial navigation systems calibration unit at Torrejón de Ardoz air base.[30]

    When an air base houses more than one ala or multiple separate grupos, the function of a lodger unit is provided by an air force installation unit (an army regiment equivalent) called Groupment of the ... Air Force Base (Agrupación de la Base Aérea de ...). Three such examples are the Agrupación de la Base Aérea de Torrejon,[31] the Agrupación de la Base Aérea de Cuatro Vientos[32] and the Agrupación de la Base Aérea de Zaragoza.[33] An agrupación could be responsible for the support of air force operations at more than one airfield (military or civilian). As an example the Groupment of the Zaragoza Air Force Base is responsible for the mixed use military / civilian airfields of Zaragoza, Logroño-Agoncillo and Huesca-Pirineos. An air force base, which does not house flying units is classified as an Acuartelamiento Aéreo (roughly translated as Air Force Installation in English, one such example is the Acuartelamiento Aéreo Bardenas, supporting the Bardenas Reales training range) and an airfield, which does not house permanently flying units is classified as an Aerodromo Militar (military airfield), such as the Aerodromo Militar de Pollensa.

    Air bases

    Defunct air bases

    Aircraft

    Current inventory

    RIAT
    in 2006
    Airbus A400M
    on approach
    A CASA C-101, used for jet training
    Los Llanos Air Base
    .
    Aircraft Origin Type Variant In service Notes
    Combat aircraft
    F/A-18 Hornet United States multirole EF-18A 84[34] 12 EF-18BM’s provide conversion training
    Eurofighter Typhoon Spain multirole EF 2000 68 20 on order[34]
    Maritime patrol
    CASA C-212 Spain maritime patrol 3[34]
    CASA CN-235 Spain / Indonesia patrol / SAR 9 1 aircraft used for surveillance[34]
    CASA C-295 Spain maritime patrol 16 on order[35]
    Electronic warfare
    Dassault Falcon 20 France electronic-warfare 1[34]
    Aerial firefighting
    Bombardier CL-415
    Canada water bomber 3[36]
    Bombardier CL-215
    Canada water bomber 14[36]
    Transport
    King Air United States utility 90 3[34]
    CASA C-212 Spain transport 8[34]
    Airbus A310 Multi-national VIP transport A310-304 2[37]
    Airbus A400M France / Spain tactical airlift 13 4 aircraft providing aerial refueling - 14 on order[34]
    Airbus A330 MRTT Europe transport / tanker 3 on order[38]
    Dassault Falcon 900 France VIP transport Falcon 900B 5[39]
    CASA C-295 / 235 Spain transport 13[35]
    Cessna Citation V United States aerial reconnaissance[40] 3[41]
    Helicopters
    NHI NH90 Europe utility 6 6 on order[34]
    Sikorsky S-76 United States utility 8[34] Also provides rotorcraft training (To be replaced by the H-135)
    Eurocopter AS332 France utility / CSAR 12[34]
    Trainer aircraft
    T-35 Pillán Chile trainer 34[34]
    CASA C-101
    Spain jet trainer 41[34]
    Northrop F-5 United States jet trainer F-5M 19[34]
    Pilatus PC-21 Switzerland primary trainer 24[34] Additional order of 16[42]
    Airbus H135 Germany rotorcraft trainer 2[43] 9 more being delivered between 2023 and 2026[44]
    Eurocopter EC120 France rotorcraft trainer 14[34]
    UAV
    MQ-9A Predator B United States MALE
    UCAV
    4[45]

    Aircraft identification

    Northrop F-5 at Talavera la Real, identified with the serial prefix A (attack) E (training).9 in the Spanish system

    The Spanish Air and Space Force has its own alphanumeric system for identifying aircraft. This forms a prefix to the airframe serial number, usually marked on the tail. The letter or letters, correspond to the use given. Thus, C means cazabombardero (fighter bomber); A, ataque (attack); P, patrulla (patrol); T, transporte (transport); E, enseñanza (training); D, search and rescue; H, helicopter; K, tanker; V, Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL); and U, utility. An example would be that the F/A-18 with "C.15-08" on the tail is the fifteenth type of fighter that arrived in the Spanish Air and Space Force (the Eurofighter is the C.16) and is the eighth example of this type to enter the SAF. On the nose or fuselage the aircraft has a numeral specific to the unit in which it is based.

    Variants of planes in service, for example two-seater versions or tanker versions of transports planes, add another letter to differentiate their function, and have their own sequence of serial numbers separate from the primary versions. Example: "CE.15-02" will be the second F/A-18 two-seater (Fighter Trainer) delivered to the SAF. In addition, the aircraft used by the Spanish Air and Space Force usually carry a code consisting of one or two digits followed by a dash and two numbers, painted on the nose or fuselage. The first number corresponds to the unit to which they belong, and the second the order in which they entered service. Example: the fourth F/A-18 arriving at Ala 12 will have on the nose the code "12-04". Those codes do change when the aircraft is re-allocated to a different unit.[citation needed]

    Ranks

    Officers

    NATO code OF-10 OF-9 OF-8 OF-7 OF-6 OF-5 OF-4 OF-3 OF-2 OF-1 OF(D) Student officer
     Spanish Air and Space Force[46]
    Capitán general General del aire Teniente general General de división General de brigada Coronel Teniente coronel Comandante Capitán Teniente Alférez

    Non-commissioned officers and enlisted rank insignia

    NATO code OR-9 OR-8 OR-7 OR-6 OR-5 OR-4 OR-3 OR-2 OR-1
     Spanish Air and Space Force[46]
    Suboficial mayor Subteniente Brigada Sargento primero Sargento Cabo mayor Cabo primero Cabo Soldado de primera Soldado

    Spanish air aces

    Spanish Civil War

    World War II

    See also

    Notes

    References

    1. ^ "Alerta por falta de personal en el Ejército del Aire: se necesitan 5.000 militares". La Gaceta (in European Spanish). 21 March 2018. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
    2. ^ "Ejército del aire. Aeronaves". Archived from the original on 6 August 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
    3. ^ a b Ejército del Aire – 1913 Archived 2010-09-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
    4. ^ "Aeroplano, n. 23, 2005" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
    5. ^ Ejército del Aire. "Ejército del aire. 1920". Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    6. ^ a b Ejército del Aire. "Ejército del aire. 1936". Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    7. ^ "Hispano Suiza E-30". Archived from the original on 24 May 2011.
    8. ^ "Blackburn T.1/T.2 Swift/Dart with 1927 Aeronáutica Naval markings". Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
    9. ^ "Blackburn T.3 Velos with 1927 Aeronáutica Naval markings". Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
    10. ^ "Hitler Speech on Foreign Policy (1937)". Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    11. ^ "La Batalla del Ebro – Mequinensa.com" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2011.
    12. ^ Ejército del Aire. "Ejército del aire. Aeronaves". Archived from the original on 22 November 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    13. ^ Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 11, p.1193, "HA-1109/1112".
    14. ^ Ejército del Aire. "Ejército del aire. 1946". Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    15. ^ "Marcelino Sempere Doménech, El Ejército del Aire en la Guerra de Sidi Ifni, Universidad de Murcia" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2011.
    16. ^ Ejército del Aire. "Ejército del aire. Escuela Militar de Paracaidismo". Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    17. ^ Gonzalez Serrano, Jose Luis Fifty Years of DC service: Douglas Transports used by the Spanish Air Force Air Enthusiast No. 80 March/April 1999 pp61-71
    18. ^ "Beechcraft T-34 A. Mentor". publicaciones.defensa.gob.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
    19. ^ Ejército del Aire. "Ejército del aire. Balcanes" [Air Force. Balkans] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    20. ^ Ripley, Tim (2001). Conflict in the Balkans, 1991-2000. Pen and Sword. p. 23.
    21. ^ "Target Lock: Eurofighter Typhoon : Production". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    22. ^ "Airbus, a leading aircraft manufacturer". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    23. ^ Ejército del Aire. "Ejército del aire. Patrullas" [Air Force. Patrols] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    24. ^ "Spain is now member of the EATC - Articles - EATC - European Air Transport Command". Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
    25. ^ Cedeira, Brais (27 June 2022). "El Ejército del Aire cambia de nombre tras 83 años y pasa a llamarse Ejército del Aire y del Espacio" [The Air Force changes its name after 83 years and is renamed the Air and Space Force]. El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 June 2022.
    26. ^ "Spain stands up new Space Command".
    27. ^ "Ejército del Aire - Organización - Unidades - Detalle unidad". ejercitodelaire.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
    28. ^ "Ejército del Aire - Organización - Unidades - Detalle unidad". ejercitodelaire.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
    29. ^ "Ejército del Aire - Organización - Unidades - Detalle unidad". ejercitodelaire.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
    30. ^ "Ejército del Aire - Organización - Unidades - Detalle unidad". ejercitodelaire.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
    31. ^ "Ejército del Aire - Organización - Unidades - Detalle unidad". ejercitodelaire.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
    32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "World Air Forces 2023". Flight Global. Flightglobal Insight. 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
    33. ^ a b "Spain orders 16 Airbus C295 in Maritime Patrol and Surveillance configurations" (Press release). Airbus. 20 December 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
    34. ^ a b "World Air Forces 2017". Flightglobal Insight. 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
    35. ^ "Spanish Air Force Fleet of A310 (Active)". airfleets.net. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
    36. ^ "Spanish Ministry of Defence signs order for three Airbus A330 MRTT | Airbus". 11 November 2021.
    37. ^ "Dassault Falcon-900 (T.18-5)— Spanish Air Force". planefinder.net. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
    38. ^ "Spanish Air Force Equipment". ejercitodelaire.defensa.gob.es. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
    39. ^ "World Air Forces 2022". Flightglobal. 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
    40. . May 2023. p. 12.
    41. ^ "Los Airbus Helicopters H135 se incorporan a la base de Armilla". Fly News. Luis Calvo.
    42. ^ "H-135 Press Release Spanish Ministry of Defence". 9 May 2023.
    43. ^ "Los dos últimos drones Predator del Ejército del Aire ya están en España". Infodefensa. 28 November 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
    44. ^ a b "Army Ranks & Insignia". Ejército de Tierra. Ministry of Defence (Spain). Retrieved 30 May 2021.

    Bibliography

    External links