Armada Sea Kings will be withdrawn from use in 2022

The Armada (Spanish Navy) will decommission the venerable Sikorsky SH-3H Sea King operated by 5 Escuadrilla (Eslla 005) at Rota within six months. According to infodefensa.com, the navy still has two Sea Kings operational.

The helicopters will be replaced by eight Sikorsky SH-60F Seahawk in the tactical transport role. So far, four SH-60Fs have been delivered, with the remainder to arrive in 2022.

Initially, the Seahawks are assigned to 10 Escuadrilla (Essla 010), but after retirement of the last Sea King they will be assigned to Essla 005. The Seahawk is still an interim solution and they will be replaced with the NH90-MSPT.

On 2 January 2019, the Spanish government announced a contract has been signed with Airbus Helicopters España to supply 23 additional NH90s to the Armed Forces at a value of €1.4 billion. The contract will cover sixteen GSPA variants, all likely to be assembled at Airbus Helicopters’ facility in Albacete and seven MSPT naval variants.

Photo by Marco Dijkshoorn