The Spanish Ministry of Defence, through the General Directorate of
Armament and Material (DGAM) will deliver to the Spanish Air Force, the
Ejército del Aire, based in San Javier (Murcia), its first PC-21, and will
immediately integrate the world’s most advanced training system by Pilatus
to be part of the 792 Squadron, the Basic Training School in the Spanish Air
Force Academy. Pilatus will deliver a total of 24 PC-21s to Spain by June
2022, raising air force pilot training to state-of-the-art level.

A highly efficient training aircraft to provide advanced training of Spain’s future
military pilots to protect future generations: After a lengthy and exceptionally
professional evaluation, Pilatus prevailed over all the international competition
to win the contract with the PC-21 in 2020. The first PC-21 was handed over in
San Javier on 14 September 2021.

Brigadier General of the Air Force León-Antonio Machés, DGAM (Ministerio de
Defensa de España) Deputy Director General of Programs commented at the
handover: “We are very pleased to be able to integrate such an advanced
training system. Not only will the PC-21 revolutionise our pilot training and
take it to a whole new level, it will also allow us to reduce the cost of our pilot
training.”

André Zimmermann, VP Government Aviation at Pilatus, added: “We’re
delighted that the first PC-21 in the national colours will take to the Spanish
skies as of now. Spain – a renowned and highly professional air force – is
already the third air force in Europe to have opted for the world’s most
advanced training system and we are confident that others will follow Spain’s
example.”

First PC-21 training course from 2022

The air force will launch its first pilot training course in September 2022. The
PC-21 will provide Spain with not only the most technically advanced training
system, but a cost-effective, ecological training platform as well. Experience
with existing PC-21 customers shows that the budget for training a student
military pilot can be reduced by more than 50 percent with the PC-21. These
single-engine turboprops require far less fuel than comparable jet trainers.
Besides the actual aircraft, the PC-21 training system includes state-of-the-art
simulators, computer-based training and virtual reality tools. Pilatus thus
offers the most advanced, most powerful integrated training system currently
available on the market.