Regardless of the necessity to modernize, Spain cabinets F-35 plans, leaving its Navy with no STOVL alternative.
The acquisition of F-35 Lightning II plane, the fifth-generation American stealth fighter, for the Spanish Armed Forces has been definitively shelved, based on a report printed by the Spanish newspaper El País, citing authorities sources.
Preliminary contacts that had already begun have been suspended indefinitely. Though the federal government accredited a ten.471 billion Euro plan final April and has dedicated to spending 2% of its gross home product (GDP) on safety and protection, the choice to take a position 85% of those funds in Europe is taken into account incompatible with buying an American plane.
Earlier this 12 months, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reaffirmed the purpose of transferring protection outlays towards 2% of GDP in keeping with NATO steerage, then declined to push spending to five% at a June summit. That stance drew sharp criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened additional tariffs on Spanish items. Spain’s Protection Ministry and Lockheed Martin didn’t instantly touch upon the report.
Spain’s protection ministry by no means moved past a non-binding RFI (Request For Info) for the Lightning II. The 2023 price range even penciled in 6.25 billion Euro for “alternative plane for the AV-8B and C-15M, section 2” (in different phrases, the Navy’s Harriers and the Air Drive’s remaining F-18 Hornets). Seems to be like these plans at the moment are scrapped.
That leaves the Armada (Navy) in a nook. The AV-8Bs are anticipated to be retired by 2030, and lengthening their service is now not life like: the plane are getting older, and with each the USMC and Italian Navy phasing theirs out (and changing them with the F-35B), Spain can be left as the one operator, dealing with a vanishing spares market. The one viable STOVL alternative is the F-35B. Passing on it could imply the Juan Carlos I loses its fixed-wing quick jet functionality and reverts to helicopters solely.
The Navy has requested Navantia (Spain’s main state-owned firm within the design and building of high-tech navy and civilian vessels) to review a brand new service design with an extended flight deck and arresting gear, a shift that might enable standard naval fighters just like the Rafale M. However even when greenlit, that possibility received’t materialize for a number of years and for positive not in time to bridge the Harrier retirement, so a fixed-wing hole seems unavoidable for many years.
As for the Spanish Air and Area Drive, the scenario appears to be much less severe: in December 2024, the Spanish authorities finalized a cope with the NATO Eurofighter and Twister Administration Company (NETMA), based mostly in Munich, Germany, to buy 25 Eurofighter jets as a part of the Halcon II program. The brand new order, which was anticipated months earlier, contains 21 single-seat and 4 twin-seat plane, which can substitute a part of the service’s getting older F-18 legacy Hornet fleet, based mostly at Torrejon and Zaragoza.
the F-35A had emerged because the frontrunner to interchange the F-18s till FCAS reaches maturity, usually projected no sooner than 2040. Air Chief Lt. Gen. Francisco Braco has spoken out in opposition to a Eurofighter-only fleet, citing the dangers of counting on a single platform. From a functionality standpoint, the F-35A remained the benchmark, notably for stealth, a degree Spanish officers have publicly acknowledged. As Adm. Gen. Teodoro López Calderón famous in July, Spain lacks a real fifth-gen various right now. That being mentioned, the possible state of affairs is to stay with fourth-gen Eurofighters and look forward to FCAS, figuring out the wait might be lengthy.
