The Spanish Navy talks about the Harrier II and blurs its possible replacement, the F-35B

Spain is the only operator of the Harrier II in NATO that has not yet planned to replace this weapons system.

The US Department of Defense sets a deadline for Spain to acquire the F-35B fighter
The Commander of the Aircraft Flotilla of the Spanish Navy speaks clearly about the F-35

This is a problem that we have already dealt with here on other occasions. A problem that is exclusively due to political reasons and that could cause the Navy to lose this capacity in the coming years. As far as the Ministry of Defense is concerned, the political part of the matter, the F-35B seems to have become a taboo, something that is not talked about despite the fact that there is no other alternative on the market to replace the Harrier II as an STVOL (short takeoff and vertical landing) capable carrier-based fighter aircraft.

On the contrary, the Spanish Navy has been expressing this need for years. In 2020, the then Admiral Chief of the Navy Staff (AJEMA), Teodoro Esteban López Calderón (current Chief of the Defense Staff, JEMAD), warned that it would need the F-35 "in the next 5-6 years in order not to lose the capacity that the Harriers give us". Four years later, the possibility of acquiring the F-35 has not even been raised by the government.

In August 2021, commands of the Spanish Navy met in the US with the military head of the F-35 program, a meeting that became known about thanks to the Armed Forces of that country and which was barely talked about in Spain (beyond this blog). The Spanish delegation was headed by the Director General of Armament and Material (DIGAM) of the Ministry of Defense, but neither the DIGAM nor the Ministry said anything about it.

In October 2023, the then Commander of the Spanish Navy Aircraft Flotilla, Captain José Emilio Regodón Gómez, said about the arrival of the F-35: "The sooner the better. With the Italian Marina Militare and the US Navy Marines transitioning to the F-35B, we will soon be the last and only users of the Harrier. And it is not possible to ignore that, if the Ministry of Defense decides to make such a purchase, there will be waiting times depending on the demand and production capacity of the production lines."

This week, the Navy has again stressed the need for the F-35. It did so on Thursday at a meeting organized by Radio Cádiz entitled "The Rota Naval Base of the 21st Century", which was attended by the Admiral in Chief of the Arsenal of Cádiz (ALARDIZ), Rubén Rodríguez Peña. You can watch the video of the conference here. In it, Rodríguez Peña addressed the replacement of the different weapons systems of the Aircraft Flotilla by 2035, concentrating on two helicopter models (the NH90 and the EC135) the current rotary wing aircraft of the Navy. Significantly, we have moved from four US-made helicopters (SH-3, SH-60B, SH-60F and Hughes 500) to two European helicopters.

The problem, of course, is that European industry does not have any STVOL fighter aircraft. Only the F-35B manufactured in the US by Lockheed Martin is available. Significantly, in the image shown by ALARDIZ, the Harrier replacement appeared out of focus, although it is clearly the silhouette of an F-35:

The slide was titled "Future programs... some uncertain". Regarding the Navy's current fixed-wing fighter aircraft, Rodríguez Peña stated that the Harrier II "gives the Navy a bigger dimension", pointing out that "it gives it the capability to plan an amphibious operation that, if you don't have the Harrier, you can't plan", and that "not having a fixed wing on board reduces the scenarios in which you can participate".

Rodríguez Peña pointed out that he was fortunate enough to attend a tripartite meeting of the US, Spain and Italy (the three European users of the Harrier II), within the framework of a consortium in which the operators of this aircraft share certain expenses. ALARDIZ pointed out that at that meeting both the US and Italy announced the withdrawal of their Harrier II in 2024 (both replaced by the F-35B), so that "Spain remains the sole user of the aircraft, with the problem that this joint office for monitoring the program is dismantled." Faced with this situation, Rodríguez Peña pointed out that in the Spanish Navy "we have stocked up on spare parts" for its Harrier II.

ALARDIZ showed this slide about the Harrier II, with the image of a TAV-8A Matador, the two-seat version of the original Harrier. The image says: "It doesn't seem possible to extend it beyond 2030", but Rodríguez Peña spoke of "2030 plus", adding: "what comes after the plus, everyone can put what they want."

ALARDIZ pointed out that "it is certainly worrying", referring to the lack of a substitute for the Harrier II, reaffirming its idea that it is a capacity that gives the Navy dimensions and adding: "it must be put to the person who decides", adding that "in helicopters we can go to European models, but here we have no alternatives."

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Photo: U.S. Navy. A Spanish Navy Harrier II Plus aboard the U.S. Navy LHD USS Wasp on June 15, 2024.