Spain's Aerospace and Defence Market: A Guide for Overseas Suppliers

Overview

Spain is one of Europe's most important aerospace and defence markets, but it is often quieter than France, Germany or the UK. Its strength is not one single national champion. It is a set of highly specialised positions inside European programmes: A350 composites at Illescas, military transport aircraft at Seville, Airbus Defence and Space leadership at Getafe, Navantia naval build at Ferrol and Cartagena, and engine workshare through ITP Aero.

Spain hosts the only A350 composite final-assembly line in the world, at Illescas in Toledo, and Europe's military transport hub in Seville, where the A400M, the C-295 and the A330 MRTT are all assembled, not in France or Germany. Add Navantia at Ferrol and Cartagena, running simultaneous F-110 frigate and S-80 submarine build, and Spain emerges as Europe's quietest major aerospace and defence industrial base. Spain is also the third partner in the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) alongside France and Germany. Its 2025 crossing of 2% of GDP on defence spending for the first time, with a path towards 2.5% by 2029, marks a structural shift rather than a one-off uplift.

For overseas suppliers, Spain is attractive because it offers access to Airbus civil aerostructures, Airbus military transport, Eurofighter and FCAS workshare, Navantia naval programmes, ITP Aero engine work, Rheinmetall Expal munitions and a strong Tier 1 base in Aernnova, Aciturri, Sener and Indra. The practical route in is usually through the Spanish prime or Tier 1 that controls the relevant programme, site or work package.

Aerospace is Spain's third-largest manufacturing sector and its most internationalised. Spanish aerospace turnover reached €13.9 billion in 2023, 59% of output was exported, and the sector supported 65,681 direct jobs (TEDAE via Atalayar). Spain's Ministry of Defence (Ministerio de Defensa) security and defence spending reached €33.1 billion in 2025, a €10.5 billion uplift on 2024 and the first year Spain hit the NATO 2% of GDP target (La Moncloa, April 2025; Breaking Defense). Most Spanish aerospace work serves international programmes, and defence funding is now committed through to 2029.

Spain is an Airbus country in a structural sense the other European shareholders are not. The Spanish state holds roughly 4% of Airbus SE through SEPI (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales), alongside the ~25% French (Sogepa) and ~25% German (KfW/GZBV) stakes. Airbus accounts for 56.4% of Spain's total A&D revenue and employs more than 14,100 people across seven industrial sites (Airbus in Spain). On the civil side, Illescas in Toledo is the only A350 composite final-assembly line in the world; Tablada in Seville builds A330 fuselage sections and feeds the A400M line; Puerto Real in Cádiz produces the A350 horizontal tailplane and A320 Section 19. Getafe outside Madrid is the global headquarters of Airbus Defence and Space, a role no other Airbus country holds. Seville San Pablo is the only European military transport FAL network, assembling the A400M, the C-295 and the A330 MRTT. Airbus Helicopters operates at Albacete and Madrid. Airbus DS España leads Spanish Eurofighter workshare at around 13%, which the December 2024 Halcón Tranche 5 order (20 plus 20 aircraft) extends through at least 2050. ITP Aero leads Spain's engine pillar on FCAS.

Spain rewards suppliers that understand the programme architecture. Airbus España matters, but Aernnova, Aciturri and ITP Aero often control the practical first conversation on civil aerostructures and engines. Navantia is the route into naval. Indra is central to defence electronics and FCAS. GDELS, Rheinmetall Expal and Escribano shape the land and munitions routes. A supplier with capacity in composites, specialist machining, propulsion, electronics, naval systems or munitions can find serious openings where Spanish industry is stretched.

Realistic entry routes are aerostructures work into Airbus España via Aernnova, Aciturri or ITP Aero; engine supply-chain work via ITP Aero on Trent XWB, TP400-D6, EJ200 and UltraFan; naval supply into Navantia; and land-systems supply into GDELS, Rheinmetall Expal or Escribano. Spanish language capability is a real advantage below the C-suite, and the right entry tier depends on what the supplier brings.

Spain defence spending trajectory 2020-2027

2020

11 € bn

2021

12 € bn

2022

14 € bn

2023

18 € bn

2024

22.6 € bn

2025

33.1 € bn

2026

34.5 € bn

2027

36 € bn

Spain defence spending trajectory 2020-2027

Category	Value
2020	11 € bn
2021	12 € bn
2022	14 € bn
2023	18 € bn
2024	22.6 € bn
2025	33.1 € bn
2026	34.5 € bn
2027	36 € bn

Major Players

The top tier of Spain's aerospace and defence industry is concentrated in ten companies that together cover civil aerostructures, military aviation, naval build, defence electronics, land systems and munitions.

Foreign-owned sites with a material national footprint are included. ITP Aero has been Bain Capital-owned since the 2022 sale by Rolls-Royce, with Indra taking a 9.5% stake in 2024 for €175 million. Rheinmetall Expal Munitions was the former Expal Systems, acquired by Rheinmetall for €1.2 billion in August 2023. Both sit inside the Spanish industrial map as operationally Spanish companies and should be treated as such.

Leading sub-sectors

Civil Aerostructures and Composites

Spain is one of Europe's three major civil aerostructures centres, alongside France and Germany in the Airbus system. Unlike France, Spain's workshare is concentrated in composite structures rather than final assembly.

Airbus Illescas produces A350 Section 19 rear fuselage barrels, lower wing covers and the A350F horizontal stabiliser on a 170,848 square-metre automated site (CompositesWorld). Airbus Puerto Real in Cádiz builds horizontal tailplanes for the A350, A330 and A380 plus A320 elevators. Airbus Tablada in Seville feeds the A400M line and builds A320-family sections.

By 2028 the A350 production rate is planned to reach 12 aircraft per month, up from around six in 2024 (Reuters, Airbus Q4 2024 guidance). Spain's composite workshare scales with it. The constraint is composite capacity, specialist titanium machining and recruitment pressure across the Basque Country and Toledo (Aernnova EINF 2024).

Beyond Airbus, two Tier 1 specialists carry most of Spain's composite workshare. Aernnova at Vitoria-Gasteiz supplies the A350 horizontal tailplane and A320/A330 aerostructures, plus Embraer, Bombardier and BelugaXL work. Aciturri at Miranda de Ebro is sole supplier for the A350 vertical tailplane, Section 19 and V1000 outboard flaps (Aciturri). The HEGAN Basque cluster generated €3.46 billion and 17,513 jobs in 2024; the Andalucía cluster added €2.9 billion and 15,496 jobs (Parke HEGAN).

Most foreign Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers reach Airbus Spain via the three Tier 1 gatekeepers rather than Airbus España directly. Demand is being driven by the A350 ramp and growing A220 workshare after Airbus's 2025 takeover of the former Spirit AeroSystems Belfast operation.

Image placeholder: Automated composite layup of an Airbus A350 fuselage barrel at Airbus Illescas, the only A350 composite final-assembly site worldwide

Source: Airbus press imagery

Air Transport Platforms (A400M, C-295, MRTT)

Seville is the centre of Europe's military transport industry. The A400M and the C-295 are assembled at Airbus Defence and Space Seville San Pablo, and the A330 MRTT conversion centre is at Getafe outside Madrid.

The A400M has delivered more than 130 aircraft to nine national operators since service entry in 2013. The C-295 is in service in more than 30 countries and is the most-exported light military transport in production. The A330 MRTT is in service with the RAF (as Voyager), Australia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, France, the Netherlands-Luxembourg pool, NATO and Canada. ITP Aero holds the principal Spanish workshare on the TP400-D6 engine via Europrop International (ITP Aero), and Tablada builds fuselage sections for the Eurodrone.

Airbus Defence and Space Spain, headquartered at Getafe, employs around 9,000 across five sites. ITP Aero at Zamudio posted 2024 revenue of €1.61 billion, up 24% year-on-year (ITP Aero); Bain Capital acquired the company from Rolls-Royce in 2022, and Indra took a 9.5% stake in 2024.

Spain's openings for overseas suppliers cluster in build-to-print components for the TP400, avionics and LRUs for all three platforms, MRTT conversion systems, specialist machining and ground support equipment. In December 2025 Spain ordered 100 Airbus helicopters worth around €4 billion, becoming launch customer for the H175M (Aviation A2Z). That, plus A400M export campaigns, sets the profile into the next decade.

Spain also hosts a material unmanned-systems industry alongside its transport work. Airbus Defence and Space Spain is a major workshare partner on the Eurodrone, the European medium-altitude long-endurance programme, alongside Airbus DS in Germany, France and Italy, with central and rear fuselage sections built at Tablada and Getafe. Indra's ATLANTE tactical UAV has been in development for over a decade and feeds into the combat-cloud sensors work for FCAS. SCR (Aeronautical Technical Services) at Cuatro Vientos produces tactical UAS, and GMV at Tres Cantos supplies UAV mission systems and ground control software used across several European programmes. INTA, Spain's national aerospace research agency, has a long UAV R&D heritage through the Milano and SIVA platforms. The Spanish Navy operates ScanEagle from its BAMs patrol vessels and is evaluating larger-category platforms. Eurodrone workshare gives Spain a long-run industrial base for dual-use UAV manufacturing into the 2030s.

Image placeholder: The A400M final assembly line at Airbus Defence and Space, San Pablo, Seville

Source: Airbus Defence and Space press images

Combat Air (Eurofighter + FCAS)

Spain is one of four NATO operators of the Eurofighter Typhoon, alongside the UK, Germany and Italy, and one of three partners in FCAS alongside France and Germany. The 2024 Halcón II award locks Eurofighter in as Spain's backbone combat aircraft through at least 2050.

In December 2024 Spain ordered 25 additional Eurofighter Tranche 4+ aircraft (Halcón II) on top of the 20 Tranche 4 jets ordered under Halcón I in 2022 for €2.15 billion, taking the planned fleet to 115 aircraft (Airbus; Eurofighter). The new aircraft replace the legacy F/A-18 Hornet fleet. Final assembly is at Getafe, with a second FAL at Albacete. ITP Aero holds the Spanish EJ200 workshare through Eurojet.

Spain joined FCAS as the third partner in 2019. Indra is national coordinator and leads the combat-cloud sensors sub-pillar (Defence-Industry.eu). Airbus DS Spain contributes to the New Generation Fighter and Remote Carriers pillars; ITP Aero leads Spain's engine pillar. The programme is in Phase 1B demonstrator development. Franco-German disagreements in late 2025 created uncertainty but have not dislodged the Spanish workshare.

Indra Group at Alcobendas is Spain's defence-electronics national champion: 2024 revenue €4.843 billion, up 11.5%, with Defence growing 18% in Q1 2025 (Atalayar). MBDA España produces Meteor, IRIS-T, Taurus and Marte; SENER Aeroespacial at Getxo supplies flight controls, optronics and space mechanisms.

Eurofighter sustainment covers specialist spares, tooling and MRO at Getafe and Albacete. FCAS opens design-to-build workshare for sensors, secure communications, mission-system software and edge computing. €3.26 billion of the April 2025 Plan is earmarked for cyber, telecommunications, satellites and AI, where Indra and Airbus DS Spain dominate.

Naval Defence

Navantia is Spain's state-owned naval champion, currently building frigates, submarines and support vessels in parallel. It is the only European yard outside France and the UK with end-to-end design-and-build capability for a full-fleet frigate replacement.

The F-110 Bonifaz-class frigate is a five-ship, €4.32 billion commitment running ahead of schedule. By April 2025 the second ship Roger de Lauria was laid down seven months early, and first steel had been cut on the third three months ahead of plan (Navantia; Naval Today). First-of-class entry is planned for 2028. The S-80 Plus Isaac Peral-class is a four-boat programme at Cartagena with a Spanish-developed AIP system; S-81 was delivered on 30 November 2023, S-82 is targeted for 2026, and S-83 and S-84 for 2028 and 2029 (Naval News). The LHD Juan Carlos I and the LPD Galicia and Castilla are in fleet service; the LHD design has been exported to Australia and Turkey.

Navantia is 100% SEPI-owned and employs around 4,500, with surface-ship build at Ferrol in Galicia, submarine build at Cartagena, and further military capacity at Puerto Real and San Fernando. SAES at Cartagena supplies sonar and acoustic signature-reduction systems; Indra supplies combat management, radar and electronic warfare for the F-110.

Navantia is increasingly export-led, with technology transfer central to its pitches in India's P-75I and the Netherlands submarine replacement. Suppliers that can bring technology-transfer partners are viewed favourably. Demand is being driven by F-110 delivery through 2033 and S-80 completion through 2029.

Land Systems and Munitions

Spain's land-systems and munitions industry has consolidated under European ownership over the past three years. Rheinmetall's €1.2 billion acquisition of Expal Systems (completed August 2023) gave the German group its most substantial non-German munitions footprint to date.

The VCR 8×8 Dragón wheeled combat vehicle is the Spanish Army's principal current land-systems buy: a first-phase contract of €2.4 billion for 348 vehicles, with the total expected to reach around 998 units (Army Recognition). Delivery runs through the TESS Defence consortium: Indra 51.1%, SAPA Placencia 16.3%, Escribano M&E 16.3% and GDELS-Santa Bárbara Sistemas 16.3%. Manufacturing sits at Trubia in Asturias and Seville. Spain's Leopard 2E fleet is in line for an upgrade (GDELS, March 2025). The Pizarro IFV, from the ASCOD family, is in service.

Rheinmetall Expal Munitions covers 155mm artillery, mortar ammunition, 30mm medium-calibre, aerial bombs, propellants and insensitive-munition formulations (Rheinmetall). Spanish sites include Madrid, Trubia, Burgos, Navalmoral, El Gordo, Albacete and Murcia. Instalaza in Zaragoza manufactures the C90-CR and Alcotán-100 shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons. Escribano M&E, family-owned at Alcalá de Henares, supplies remote weapon stations (the Guardian 30 sold to the UAE in a 516-unit 2023 deal), electro-optics and stabilisation systems.

Demand is being driven by Ukraine-led ammunition restocking, NATO interoperability and the VCR 8×8 Dragón ramp through 2030.

Airbus Spain: approximate headcount by site

Getafe (Madrid)

4,500 employees

Seville (San Pablo + Tablada)

3,500 employees

Illescas

1,800 employees

Puerto Real

1,500 employees

Albacete

1,000 employees

Tres Cantos

500 employees

Other

1,300 employees

Airbus Spain: approximate headcount by site

Category	Value
Getafe (Madrid)	4,500 employees
Seville (San Pablo + Tablada)	3,500 employees
Illescas	1,800 employees
Puerto Real	1,500 employees
Albacete	1,000 employees
Tres Cantos	500 employees
Other	1,300 employees

This is an industrial plan as much as a defence plan. Approximately 87% of the uplift is for Spanish industry and Spanish workers.

Opportunities

Overseas-supplier entry into the Spanish market falls into recognisable patterns. On civil aerostructures, precision machining of titanium and aluminium, composite raw materials, layup tooling, surface treatments, fasteners and sub-assemblies find homes via Aernnova, Aciturri or Airbus España. On engines, ITP Aero's Trent XWB, TP400, EJ200 and UltraFan workshares consume forgings, castings, coatings and test instrumentation. On naval, Navantia's F-110 and S-80 pull in propulsion, sonar, combat-system hardware, specialist cabling and acoustic-dampening materials. On land systems and munitions, demand sits in propellants, speciality chemicals, insensitive-munition formulations, optronics, stabilised mounts and shell components. Build-to-print dominates legacy platforms; design-to-build is more common on FCAS, Eurodrone and the next-generation combat cloud.

Spanish primes face the same backlog pressure as the rest of Europe. Airbus is ramping A350 production to 12 a month by 2028 against a composites base running close to capacity. Navantia's F-110 is ahead of schedule, pulling supplier demand forward. Rheinmetall Expal is scaling 155mm output. Spanish primes are actively seeking second-source suppliers in casting, forging and specialist machining where European capacity has tightened since 2022. For an overseas supplier with spare capacity, or a specialism the Spanish base does not hold, this is where the opening sits.

Spain does not run a formal offset regime. Industrial participation is negotiated deal-by-deal on major platform buys through DGAM, typically landing in the 50-70% range on indigenous-content-heavy programmes. The VCR 8×8 Dragón carried a 70% Spanish industrial participation baseline. The December 2024 Halcón II Eurofighter Tranche 5 award (20+20 aircraft totalling 45 with the 2022 Halcón I order) carries Spanish industrial content commitments across Getafe final assembly, Indra mission systems and ITP Aero EJ200 workshare.

Spain's distinctive feature is a pro-EU posture combined with strong regional industrial politics. The Basque Country (ITP Aero, SENER, Aernnova), Andalucía (Airbus Seville, GDELS Seville) and Galicia (Navantia Ferrol) compete actively for defence investment, and regional governments sometimes take equity positions in industrial deals. Recent overseas industrial moves into Spain include Rheinmetall's €1.2 billion acquisition of the former Expal Systems defence business from Maxamcorp in August 2023, now Rheinmetall Expal Munitions; Bain Capital's €1.7 billion acquisition of ITP Aero from Rolls-Royce in August 2022, followed by the 2024 sale of a 9.5% stake to Indra for €175 million; and the Indra-Raytheon radar joint venture established in 2023.

Spanish buyers favour industrial partnerships with a Spanish footprint: licensing, joint venture or a local subsidiary.

Our Insights

Airbus is the single biggest structural fact of the Spanish market. Airbus operates across civil aerostructures at Illescas, Puerto Real and Tablada, defence aerospace at Getafe, Albacete and Seville, space at Tres Cantos and helicopters at Albacete. Any supplier strategy must start with Airbus's footprint. Strategies that sidestep Airbus entirely work only in narrow niches: Navantia naval supply, Rheinmetall Expal munitions, or land-systems sub-tier work.

Regional industrial politics shape siting in a way that surprises newcomers. Spain is a quasi-federal country. The Gobierno Vasco holds structured equity interests in Basque aerospace and played a role in the 2022 Bain Capital deal for ITP Aero. Galicia's Ferrol yard is politically protected in any federal scenario. Andalucía's aerospace and naval activity is backed by the Junta de Andalucía. Catalonia hosts less defence activity than industrial scale would suggest. A supplier's footprint plan for Spain needs to factor in where the jobs will land.

English is fine at C-suite inside Airbus España, Indra, ITP Aero and the larger primes. Below that, Spanish is the working language at DGAM, at Navantia shipyards, at GDELS plants, at Rheinmetall Expal sites, and across most tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers.

Spain is consistently one of Europe's more pro-EU defence voices. Prime Minister Sánchez's pushback on NATO's 5% target reflects a preference for EU-centric integration (Atlantic Council, 2025). Spain is a strong supporter of the European Defence Fund, PESCO and the European Defence Industrial Programme. Suppliers with EDF track record are viewed more warmly than those positioned as purely ITAR-dependent. Spain is less ITAR-averse than France in practice (it operates F/A-18s and will operate F-35s), but the policy direction is towards European sovereignty on combat cloud, propulsion, munitions and electronics.

The Halcón orders and FCAS third-partner role together commit Spain to the European combat-air ecosystem through at least 2050, a longer and more defined commitment than Germany or the UK. Suppliers thinking about Spanish Eurofighter should plan around Tranche 4+ industrialisation at Getafe and Albacete through 2030, then FCAS. Spain is the junior of three in FCAS, and Franco-German programme tensions in late 2025 create both risk and opportunity for Spanish industry.

Foreign tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers looking for Airbus workshare from Spain typically route through Aernnova, Aciturri or ITP Aero rather than Airbus España directly. These three are the gatekeepers, and the practical first step for a new entrant is a conversation with one of them. Navantia is a different customer: state-owned, political and tied to export campaigns that move at the pace of diplomacy.

Trade Shows

Spain's domestic defence and security exhibition. The 2025 edition ran 12-14 May 2025 with more than 500 exhibitors, 35,000 attendees and over 100 official delegations, doubling exhibition space from 40,000 to 60,500 square metres (FEINDEF). Backed by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior and the CNI, FEINDEF is the priority event for overseas suppliers targeting Spanish defence procurement. DGAM attends in strength, all Spanish primes are present, and the European defence-ministry delegation footprint is sizeable.

Spain's industry does not run a domestic airshow on the scale of Paris or Farnborough; the Spanish presence at Paris is the largest single concentration of Spanish aerospace contacts outside Spain itself. TEDAE organises the Spanish pavilion, and Airbus DS, Indra, ITP Aero, Navantia and Aernnova all take significant presences. For a civil-aerospace supplier, Paris is where Airbus España contacts operate on home-industry ground.

Farnborough runs in Spain's air show calendar alongside Paris. TEDAE and the main Spanish primes take a pavilion and use the week for European supply-chain meetings. Attend one or both of Paris and Farnborough depending on programme focus.

How Westworld Helps

Our coverage of Spain is built on the Madrid cluster (Getafe, Alcalá de Henares, Alcobendas), the Seville cluster (San Pablo, Tablada and the wider Andalucía aerospace base), the Bilbao and Basque cluster (Zamudio, Vitoria, Getxo) and the Ferrol and Cartagena naval yards. We work in Spanish and operate across the regional politics of the Basque Country, Andalucía, Galicia and Madrid.

Day-to-day work includes introducing overseas principals to the Aernnova, Aciturri and ITP Aero gatekeeper triad, supporting Eurofighter Tranche 4+ and FCAS supply-chain positioning, and building Navantia technology-transfer partnerships.

We also help clients position for the April 2025 Industrial and Technological Plan, the largest multi-year defence commitment in modern Spanish history, where 87% of the uplift is earmarked for Spanish industry.

For more, see aerospace sales representation, our defence sector coverage, or where we operate. If you are considering Spain, get in touch.