Spanish Navy Harrier IIs rehearse long-range attacks in the North Atlantic

The Spanish Navy's "Despliegue Atlántico 26" Expeditionary Combat Group continues its journey back to Spain.

Five ships of the Spanish Navy at the Canadian naval base in Halifax
The Spanish aircraft carrier 'Juan Carlos I' displayed by the US Navy in Norfolk

During this voyage, the group, consisting of five ships and led by the amphibious aircraft carrier "Juan Carlos I" L-61, is participating in a new NATO-organized exercise, Neptune Strike 26-3. "This is a tactical action that uses fighter jets launched from the sea to attack long-range ground targets and back to the ship," the Spanish Maritime Forces NATO Headquarters (SPMARFOR HQ) announced today on its Twitter account.

SPMARFOR HQ has published this series of photos of the exercise, in which we see several EAV-8B+ Harrier II Plus fighters of the 9th Squadron of the Spanish Navy's Air Flotilla (FLOAN) during the air operations of this exercise on the flight deck of the L-61.

SPMARFOR HQ has added: "Neptune Strike 26-3, marks the series' first expansion into the High North/North Atlantic as part of Arctic Sentry, one of NATO's enhanced Vigilance Activity and extends the Alliance’s operational reach into one of NATO’s most strategically significant and demanding environments."

The NATO Joint Forces Command – Norfolk (JFC-NF) stated yesterday: "Unlike a traditional annual activity, Neptune Strike is conducted through multiple iterations throughout the year, with each activity designed around a distinct operational focus that enables the Alliance to rehearse command and control (C2) with multinational forces already deployed across Europe. Previous iterations focused on the Western and Central Mediterranean, integrating activities across five maritime regions. Their flexible design allows NATO to adapt each iteration to evolving operational requirements and the availability of deployed forces."

This phase of the exercise, Neptune Strike 26-3, "sees United Kingdom’s Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales operating alongside the Spanish Expeditionary Strike Group, led by “Castilla” and supported by 12 contributing Allied nations. These two strike groups will work alongside ships, submarines and aircraft from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, and the NATO Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Force (NISRF)."

The environment of this exercise is challenging for NATO's naval force: "Operating across the Arctic, High North and North Atlantic exposes Allied forces to vast, austere and complex conditions that differ from many nations' traditional operating areas. Training in this environment provides realistic opportunities to integrate multinational capabilities, refine procedures and adapt to an increasingly complex and evolving security landscape. By rehearsing integrated multi-domain operations under these conditions, the Alliance strengthens its ability to respond wherever and whenever required," notes the JFC-NF.

This exercise is taking place from July 17th to 23rd. Regarding the long-range attack capabilities of the 9th Squadron's Harrier II Plus fighters, we can see some details in these photos. Significantly, none of the images show the Harrier IIs with weapons, not even the usual AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles for self-defense (they are normally carried on pylons 1 and 6 under the wings, but in these photos they appear empty).

What we do see are aircraft with up to three external fuel tanks, of two types: the usual 300-gallon (1,135-liter, on pylons 3 and 4) AERO 1D tanks, and smaller ones (on pylons 2 or 5), if I'm not mistaken, with a capacity of 150 gallons (I haven't been able to find their designation). In this photo, we see one of these smaller tanks with a decoration alluding to the centenary of the transatlantic flight of the "Plus Ultra" aircraft between Spain and Argentina in 1926.

In this last photo, we see three Harrier IIs on the flight deck of the L-61, about to take off. It's the image where we can most clearly see that the aircraft were unarmed. The problem in that area of ​​the North Atlantic is that the Spanish Navy doesn't have tanker aircraft, and to guarantee a greater range for these fighters, they need to carry more external fuel tanks (hence the third one) and less weapons payload.

---

Photos: SPMARFOR HQ.