The 14th Squadron of the Spanish Navy receives its third NH90 MSPT helicopter

The Spanish Navy's Air Fleet (FLOAN) continues with the process of renewing its equipment.

Airbus officially delivers the first two NH90 MSPT 'Sable' aircraft to the Spanish Navy
The NH90 HSPN anti-submarine and anti-ship helicopter that Airbus has offered to Spain

On December 12, the Spanish Navy announced the upcoming delivery of a third NH90 helicopter from an initial batch of seven aircraft, with three deliveries planned for 2025 and four for 2026. In that publication, the Navy showed this photo of the first two, HT.29-40 (10346, 01-14-02) and HT.29-41 (10347, 01-14-03), to which must be added one more aircraft, HT.29-39 (10345, 01-14-01), which remains at the Airbus factory in Albacete as a test aircraft. just like what happened with the first batch of NH90s for the Spanish Army, as we saw yesterday.

As previously announced, today the Spanish Navy announced the delivery of the third NH90 to the 14th Squadron, HT.29-42 (10348, 01-14-04). The delivery took place at the Airbus facilities in Albacete.

Like the first two, this third NH90 is of the MSPT variant (Maritime Spanish Tactical Transport Helicopter), a navalized version of the NH90 TTH, the tactical transport version of this European aircraft, designed to meet the operational requirements of the Spanish Navy.

Unlike the Spanish Air Force's NH90 GSPA (nicknamed "Lobo") and the Spanish Army's (nicknamed "Sarrio"), which are also a Spanish version of the NH90 TTH, the Spanish Navy's NH90 MSPT, nicknamed "Sable", include a reinforced landing gear to withstand the harsh operations on ship flight decks, as well as automatic folding systems for the main rotor blades and rear fuselage, and specific naval communications and navigation equipment.

These three photos we just saw are those published today of HT.29–42 (10348, 01-14-04). Recently, the Spanish Navy has released other images showing the activity already being carried out by the first two NH90s of the 14th Squadron.

On November 7, the Spanish Navy published these two photos of the HT.29-41 (10347, 01-14-03) in flight. Like the rest of the FLOAN aircraft, these helicopters sport a very low-visibility naval gray scheme, making it very difficult to visually identify the unit at a distance.

Likewise, on November 29th the Spanish Navy published these three images of a fast rope descent exercise from HT.29-41 (10347, 01-14-03) by soldiers of the Marine Corps Tercio, the expeditionary unit of the Spanish Marine Infantry.

The NH90 surpasses the transport capabilities of its predecessors, the AB-212 "Gato". The "Sable" helicopters of the 14th Squadron can transport up to 20 fully equipped soldiers or a light vehicle, the latter accessible from the aircraft's rear ramp.

As we saw yesterday, in addition to these seven NH90 MSPTs, the purchase of a new batch of six NH90s for the Spanish Navy was announced yesterday. At the moment, everything seems to indicate that they will also be the navalized MSPT tactical transport version.

A few months ago, Airbus offered Spain an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-ship warfare (ASUW) version of this helicopter, the NH90 HSPN. This would be a version specifically designed for the Spanish Navy of the NH90 NFH, already used by other allied naval forces. This version is equipped with a sonobuoy launcher and a towed, submersible sonar, and is also capable of firing NSM AL anti-ship missiles. There is no news yet regarding its potential purchase.

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Fotos: Armada Española.