Aspide air defense missile system from Spain information on readiness to transfer SHORAD Aspide

The Spanish media reported about the readiness to transfer the SHORAD Aspide anti-aircraft missile system. Ukraine will soon strengthen its air defense with the new Spanish Aspide Skyguard anti-aircraft missile system. The Spanish press quotes its sources in the government as saying this. And given the fairly active support of Madrid with weapons, this is a very real scenario. In particular, Spain has previously sent an entire logistics ship with 200 tons of military equipment, weapons and other equipment.
In addition, the transfer of an anti-aircraft missile system such as the Aspide is much more likely due to the fact that it does not belong to the critical for Spanish defense armament. The fact is that it was developed back in the late 70s and is being replaced by modern models in the Spanish army itself.
An interesting aspect is that the name SHORAD Aspide is used in the media, but in reality SHORAD is only a type of anti-aircraft missile system - Short Range Air Defense (short range SAM). The Spanish Army also referred to this SAM system as the Toledo, and the Aspide is just the name of the missile.
The Aspide missile was developed in the early 1970s by the Italian company Selenia (known by its newer name Alenia Aeronautica, now part of Leonardo) based on a licensed version of the American AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile.
Compared to the Sparrow, the Italian Aspide has a new radar homing head, which shows better jamming capability, updated electronics, more powerful engine, and improved maneuverability thanks to a change in rudder drives.
The Italians also adapted the Aspide to launch from the surface, creating the Albatros surface-to-air missile system and the Skyguard land-based missile system. In the 80s these Aspide missiles were purchased by Spain and integrated into a localized complex, called Toledo, also known as Spada, after the name of the launcher.
Aspide capabilities and features
The Aspide surface-to-air missile in the first version has a range of about 12 kilometers and a maximum target altitude of 5.5-6 kilometers Since the missile has a semi-active radar homing head, the ground station must constantly irradiate the target. But unlike other systems, the illumination radar is placed on the launcher itself, which allows it to engage multiple targets simultaneously.
The first versions of the system use Skyguard radar, developed in the 1970s in collaboration with the Swiss company Oerlikon Contraves and Sweden's Ericsson, to detect targets. It has the ability to detect targets at a range of up to 20 kilometers, and during its development, the main emphasis was placed on working on low-altitude targets.
The radar was designed to control the 35mm GDF series anti-aircraft guns, so it was logically included in the Spanish Toledo system as well. So when it comes to Spain's Aspide SAM, we are talking about a complex that has two launchers for four Aspide missiles each, as well as two GDF anti-aircraft guns.
The latter have two 35-mm twin barrels that allow effective range of up to 3.5-4 kilometers and a rate of fire of up to 1100 rounds per second. This artillery system is the basis of the antiaircraft self-propelled Gepard system, which Ukraine still can not get from Germany.
But Spain in the 90's has upgraded some of its SAMs. In particular, it is known about the replacement on some systems Skyguard radar with Skydor (also from Oerlikon), which already belongs to the digital radar of the modern generation, and is combined with the thermal imaging station. According to various sources, Skydor radar has a target detection range of up to 40-60 kilometers.
In addition, the complex was updated by integrating a newer version of the Aspide missile, which increased the range to 25 kilometers, data on the altitude of the targets is not available. But most likely, we can talk about increasing the maximum altitude to 7-9 kilometers. The SAM with such upgrades was named Spada 2000 and already belongs to the short-to-medium range class.
Thus, most likely, Spain is ready to hand over the old versions of the complexes. Their capabilities, unfortunately, are unlikely to be enough to destroy the Russian Armed Forces aircraft, but they are quite capable of enhancing the defense against cruise missiles.
Aspide surface-to-air missile system in SHORAD version.
Target detection range: 20 km
Maximal target engagement range: up to 12 km
Maximum target engagement height: up to 6 km.
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