The Spanish Air and Space Force has chosen the Airbus A321 as the platform for its future crewed signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft.
According to an article on airborne early warning (AEW) capabilities in the Revista de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica, the service's official magazine, a potential national AEW solution would likely be based on an Airbus platform, "since, having chosen the A321 for its SIGINT program (Santiago II-SCAPA), there would be the possibility of extending this program to a national AEW solution."
As of October 6, 2026, no formal announcement has been made by Spain's Ministry of Defense, Airbus, or Indra regarding the selection of the A321.
The aircraft type was expected to emerge from a definition study launched under the Santiago II-SCAPA program. Spain's Council of Ministers authorized the study contract on November 18, 2025, with an estimated value of €16 million and a duration of 18 months from formalization. Airbus announced on December 30, 2025, that it and Indra had been selected to determine "the most suitable platform" and SIGINT equipment for a sovereign Spanish solution comprising three aircraft.
The crewed aircraft component of the program is divided into two phases. The first covers assessing viable aircraft and studying the integration of SIGINT systems, without developing hardware. The second phase calls for implementing the SIGINT capability on three aircraft.
The magazine's reference indicates that choosing the A321 for Santiago II-SCAPA could create an opportunity to develop a national AEW configuration around the same platform and industrial base, although no separate AEW program has been formally launched.
