An official magazine of the Ministry of Defense: “Spain will be left without embarked fixed-wing”

The Spanish government's refusal to purchase the F-35B will have very negative consequences for the Spanish Navy.

Those responsible for the Spanish Navy losing its carrier-based fighters
The French naval model that Spain could imitate and that would mean forgetting about the F-35B

The rejection of the F-35B will leave the Spanish Navy without fighters in a few years

In August you could already read those consequences in Defense and Aviation: Spain will be left without carrier-based fighters, as there is no replacement in time for the EAV-8B+ Harrier II Plus of the 9th Squadron before the end of its operational life. It was predictable given the government's position on the F-35B, ignoring the Navy's requests regarding that aircraft. But in case some people still didn't have it clear, now an official publication confirms it.

A Defense Ministry magazine confirms: “Spain will be left without embarked fixed-wing”

This Saturday, the Ministry of Defense announced the publication of a new issue of its "Revista de Aeronáutica y Astronáutica" (see PDF), directed by an Air Force Colonel and whose editorial board is made up of officers from our air force. This is a publication that addresses current issues on aeronautical topics, both from Spain and other countries.

In this issue, 946 of that official publication of the Ministry of Defense, corresponding to October 2025, the news about the government's decision to rule out the purchase of the F-35 appears on page 745, in a text that begins like this:

"According to government sources, the purchase of the F-35 aircraft is currently ruled out as it is not a priority. This was communicated to the media by Defense Minister Margarita Robles, who reaffirmed that this government will concentrate its resources on systems such as the Eurofighter and the FCAS, supporting the European option in its investments if possible, although the FCAS is not scheduled to enter service until after 2040."

The editorial staff appears to disapprove of the government's decision, warning about the FCAS's delay. The following makes clear the magazine's negative assessment of the decision:

"The decision is also contextualized in a climate of tension with Washington, derived from criticism from the Trump administration towards Spain for its level of military spending and the most immediate consequence will be suffered by the Navy by not having a replacement for the Harriers AV-8B+ that operate from the ship Juan Carlos I. As a consequence Spain will be left without an embarked fixed wing and the Navy without its capacity to project naval power over land as an essential part of its combat capability".

The operating costs of the Harrier II will make it unviable after “three or four years”

This analysis is devastating of the government's plans and reveals the discontent of our military (always very measured in their expression) over a decision that implies a loss of an important capability of the Spanish Navy. But the devastating analysis doesn't stop there. The article goes on to say this:

"In the next three or four years, when the Italian Navy and the US Marine Corps retire their last Harrier II+ units, the maintenance costs for Spain of a fleet of only 11 units will make the operation of this aircraft unviable."

This statement contradicts the Navy's plans to continue operating the Harrier II until 2023, plans that were announced a month ago and which would be based on the purchase of fighters of this type from the US and Italy to obtain spare parts for the Spanish aircraft.

The uncertain future of the FCAS, the alternative to which the Spanish Navy is clinging

The magazine's report ends with these words, which refer to the alternative that the Spanish Navy is considering to recover this lost fixed-wing aircraft: "For the moment, the Navy has reconsidered its long-term strategy, opting for the construction of a new conventional aircraft carrier, a project that is already being studied for feasibility by Navantia."

We already wrote about this here on June 25, but significantly, the government's silence on this project is the same as it has maintained until recently on the F-35B. Even if the government were to approve the construction of such an aircraft carrier, it would possibly be a decade after the retirement of the Harrier IIs until Spain had a naval version of the FCAS, provided there are no delays in the program, delays that are already common in many defense programs in which Spain is involved. Furthermore, and as we saw here in August, the differences between Germany and France are threatening the FCAS program, whose future is currently uncertain.

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Main photo: Elentir. Four McDonnell Douglas EAV-8B+ Harrier II aircraft of the 9th Squadron on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier "Juan Carlos I" L-61 during a visit to Vigo in June 2017.