Spain selects Airbus A321 as SIGINT platform, service magazine says

Spain's Air and Space Force has chosen the Airbus A321 to carry its future crewed signals intelligence system, according to the service's magazine, Revista de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica.

Writing about airborne early warning, the publication said a national AEW capability would probably also use an Airbus platform, since the airframe picked for the SIGINT effort could be extended to that role.

As of October 6, 2026, neither the Ministry of Defense, Airbus, nor Indra has issued a formal statement confirming the A321 selection.

The choice was expected from a platform definition study under the Santiago II-SCAPA programme. Spain's Council of Ministers approved that contract in November 2025, valuing it at about €16 million over 18 months from formalisation.

In late December 2025, Airbus said it and Indra had been picked to work out which platform and which signals intelligence equipment best suited a sovereign Spanish solution built around three aircraft. Airbus would propose an aircraft matched to Spanish requirements and then modify it to take a SIGINT system put forward by Indra.

The manufacturer pointed to its work at Getafe, near Madrid, where it has converted Airbus A330s into Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft. Spain ordered three A330 MRTTs in 2021.

On the original timetable, the definition study should run until roughly the middle of 2027, placing the platform decision about nine months into the process.