On Monday, December 22, 2025, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) published the U.S. Department of State’s approval of a potential sale to the Kingdom of Spain of a package of 250 engine fans for General Electric F404-GE-400 turbofan engines powering C.15 Hornet multirole aircraft, valued at up to 200 million USD.
Illustrative photo: Photographer’ Mate 2nd Class Jeremy Hall, US Navy
According to the published information, the government in Madrid initially requested the possibility of acquiring 50 engine fans, associated power control computers (CP-1325/APG-65), receiver–exciter units (R-2089/APG-65), as well as related services and equipment, spare parts, consumables, accessories, deliveries of classified software, and support, for a maximum of 98.8 million USD.
Subsequently, the request was expanded to include an additional 200 engine fans, further CP-1325/APG-65 and R-2089/APG-65 units, and the aforementioned related services and components, as well as repair and return support, unclassified technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, studies and surveys, contractor logistics support, engineering, technical, and logistical support services provided by the U.S. government and contractors, and other related logistics and program support elements. The requested components are to be sourced from U.S. Department of Defense stocks.
Photo: Ejército del Aire y del Espacio
The Spanish Air and Space Force (Ejército del Aire y del Espacio) operates 81 Boeing C.15/C.15M/CE.15 Hornet/EF-18AM multirole aircraft (the local designation for the F-18A+/B+ Hornet), which have been in service since 1986 and are stationed with the 46th Wing at Gando Air Base on the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands archipelago. They are scheduled to be phased out in the coming years in favor of newly ordered Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoons in two batches: 20 aircraft under the Halcón program in the Tranche 4 configuration (including 16 single-seat and 4 twin-seat aircraft) and 25 aircraft under Halcón 2 (including 21 single-seat and 4 twin-seat aircraft).
They are powered by two General Electric F404-GE-400 afterburning turbofan engines, each providing approximately 71–76 kN of thrust with afterburner and about 48–49 kN without.