The new Eurofighters in the Canary Islands and the change in numerals in the Spanish Air Force

The Spanish Air Force today celebrated the official handover of its old EF-18 Hornet fighter jets from Wing 46, based in Gando.

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That base, located on the island of Gran Canaria, saw the arrival of 24 F/A-18A Hornet single-seat fighter jets, purchased secondhand from the United States Navy in the 1990s. Delivered between 1996 and 1998, the Hornets replaced the Dassault Mirage F1 fighters, which were only in the Canary Islands for about a decade. Three of those F/A-18As were lost in accidents, and one of them, C.15-76, caught fire and ended up at the Albacete Air Maintenance Depot (MAESAL).

Despite being the Spanish Air Force's newest Hornets, these F/A-18As of Wing 46 have had a shorter operational life in Spain than the EF-18s of Wings 12 and 15, due to the years they spent in service in the United States. Once in Spain, they were modernized to the EF-18A+ variant and assigned to the 462 Squadron of Wing 46.

El Ejército del Aire ha celebrado hoy el relevo oficial de los Hornets del Ala 46 en Gando, dando el relevo al Eurofighter Typhoon pero sin informar sobre el número de los nuevos cazas y su procedencia. Airbus Defence ha proporcionado hoy esa información, señalando que el Ala 46 ha recibido ocho Eurofighters para este relevo.

The Spanish Air Force today celebrated the official handover of the Hornets of Wing 46 at Gando Air Base, replacing them with the Eurofighter Typhoon, but without disclosing the number of new fighters or their origin. Airbus Defence has provided this information today, noting that Wing 46 has received eight Eurofighters for this rotation.

Airbus Defence added: "These are the first Eurofighters out of a total of 20 that will progressively replace the veteran F-18 fleet that has served for decades in the archipelago. Although this deployment begins with fighter jets from the 14th Wing (Albacete), aircraft from the 11th Wing (Morón de la Frontera, Seville) will also be added later. In this way, Gando joins Morón and Albacete as the third operational base for the Eurofighter in Spain." In 2022 the Spanish government announced the purchase of 20 new Eurofighters to replace the EF-18s of Wing 46, but the first ones are not yet in the delivery process and that is why the decision has been made to use aircraft already in service.

A significant detail of the Eurofighters of Wing 46 is the change in the numbering system compared to the Eurofighters of Wings 11 and 14. The aircraft from Morón and Albacete have their wing number in their numbers. The Hornets of Wing 46 included the wing number in their numbers, but the Eurofighters from the Canary Islands include their squadron number, 462.

This isn't the first time we've seen this change recently on Air Force aircraft. This week we saw that the first C295W MSA of Wing 46 refers to the 802 Squadron in its serial number, even though all active C295Ms in the Air Force have a reference to their Wing in their serial number. Similarly, the new Spanish A330 MRTTs refer to the 452 Squadron in their number, instead of referring to Wing 45.

The reason for this is that Wing 46 is a mixed unit, made up of two units: Group 46 (which includes the 462 Squadron, dedicated to air defense) and Group 82, made up of the 802 Squadron, dedicated to search and rescue and equipped with CN-235 VIGMA fixed-wing aircraft and the new C295W MSA, as well as AS-332 Super Puma helicopters. Currently, Wings 11 and 14 only have Eurofighters, so by displaying only the wing number, they can transfer aircraft from one squadron to another without having to change their markings.

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Photos: Ejército del Aire.