The Spanish Ministry of Defense’s delay in deciding on the acquisition of the fifth generation F-35B fighters to replace the old AV-8B Harrier IIs operating on board the amphibious assault ship «Juan Carlos I» is making the Navy nervous as it faces the possibility of losing its carrier-based fighter capability.
During an interview published in the 173rd Navy Personnel Information Bulletin (BIP), the commander of the Navy Aircraft Flotilla (FLOAN), Captain José Emilio Regodón Gómez, when questioned about the potential replacement of the 13 Harrier short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) fighters that make up the 9th Aircraft Squadron was clear that there is no other option but to go for the American fifth-generation jet: «at present, there is only one possible model: the F-35B».
While Spanish AV-8B+Harriers can continue to provide service until their scheduled retirement date in 2030, a decision on their replacement would have to be made «The sooner, the better.» As the FLOAN commander points out in the interview, «With the Italian Marina Militare and the U.S. Marine Corps transitioning to the F-35B, we will soon be left as the last and only users of the Harrier. And it is impossible to ignore that, should the Ministry of Defense decide to make such a purchase, there will be some lead times depending on demand and the production capacity of the assembly lines.»
As time goes by, the window of opportunity to make the Harrier retirement coincide with the eventual arrival of their replacements is closing, which could imply a loss of critical capabilities for the Spanish Navy, which would leave the rest of the fleet without one of its fundamental defensive umbrellas, while at the same time considerably diminishing its capacity to project power. On this possibility, Commander Regodon Gomez elaborates in depth:
«Losing the embarked fixed wing would be a step backward in our level of ambition. Today, as demonstrated for example in the «Dédalo-23» deployment, the LHD Juan Carlos I can be operating anywhere in the Atlantic or the Mediterranean, and its aircraft can offer CAP (combat air patrol) to the naval force, support our Marines in their landings, combine their firepower with those of surface or submarine units for coordinated attacks on other enemy naval forces, or attack targets thousands of kilometers inland. Such strategic flexibility is provided only by an embarked fixed-wing jet air wing.»
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Although the choice for the F-35B seems obvious (because there are no realistic options), the Spanish Government is still reluctant to move forward on its purchase, probably due to economic considerations (being the most expensive to acquire and operate of the three models) and political ones, since the military budget is not infinite and the acquisition of the American embarked fighter could negatively impact the financing of European defense projects, such as the FCAS.
