{"id":60165,"date":"2025-07-08T21:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=60165"},"modified":"2026-07-08T00:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T22:48:13","slug":"the-french-naval-model-that-spain-could-imitate-and-that-would-mean-forgetting-about-the-f-35b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/07\/08\/the-french-naval-model-that-spain-could-imitate-and-that-would-mean-forgetting-about-the-f-35b\/","title":{"rendered":"The French naval model that Spain could imitate and that would mean forgetting about the F-35B"},"content":{"rendered":"

For several years now, I've been following reports about Spain's possible purchase of F-35 fighter jets, which has yet to materialize.<\/p>\n

Spain plans its first aircraft carrier capable of operating US-style CATOBAR fighters<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe Spanish Navy's alternatives if the government does not approve the purchase of F-35 fighters<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

Recent reports about the Spanish Navy's plans to build its first aircraft carrier with CATOBAR fighters<\/a>, a ship that would take the French aircraft carrier \"Charles de Gaulle\" R-91 as a reference, encourage us to think that the Spanish Navy could be thinking of adopting the French naval model<\/strong> regarding embarked aviation.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The aircraft carrier \"Juan Carlos I\" L-61 of the Spanish Navy (Photo: Elentir<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Currently, Spanish naval aviation capacity is focused on three large ships: the amphibious aircraft carrier \"Juan Carlos I\" L-61<\/strong>, a 231-meter-long ship that has a flight deck that covers almost the entire ship in the style of the US Navy's LHDs, and the amphibious assault ships (BAA) \"Galicia\" L-51 and \"Castilla\" L-52,<\/strong> two sister ships of 160 meters in length that only have a flight deck in their rear half. The L-61 operates STOVL Harrier II Plus fighters<\/strong>, as well as helicopters, while the BAAs operate only helicopters.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The Spanish Navy's amphibious assault ship \"Galicia\" L-51 (Photo: Armada Espa\u00f1ola<\/a>).<\/div>\n

The Spanish Navy's new plans would involve having a CATOBAR aircraft carrier<\/strong> (like the aforementioned French aircraft carrier and the large US aircraft carriers, which launch aircraft with catapults) and two LHDs like the L-61<\/strong>. What has been published so far is that the new CATOBAR aircraft carrier could operate the naval version of the FCAS<\/strong>, a European sixth-generation fighter that Germany, Spain and France are working on, but it is not known if the two LHDs would have fixed-wing aircraft<\/strong>, beyond those that the Spanish Navy currently operates. Let us remember that the Spanish Harrier IIs are scheduled to be decommissioned around 2030<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The French Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier \"Charles de Gaulle\" R91 (Photo: Marine Nationale<\/a>).<\/div>\n

With the current Spanish naval model, the only possibility exists to operate STOVL aircraft such as the Harrier II and the F-35B<\/strong> from LHD type ships such as the \"Juan Carlos I\". Considering that the Spanish Navy would take the \"Charles de Gaulle\" as a reference for its first CATOBAR aircraft carrier, it is reasonable to assume that Spain could imitate the current French naval model<\/strong>, which does not include STOVL aircraft.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The French Navy's helicopter carrier \"Mistral\" L9013 (Photo: Marine Nationale<\/a>).<\/div>\n

The French Navy's naval aviation capability is centered on four large ships: the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier \"Charles de Gaulle\"<\/strong>, 261.5 meters long, which operates helicopters and fixed-wing CATOBAR aircraft (launched with low-level catapults and landing by arresting cables), and three amphibious aircraft carriers similar to the \"Juan Carlos I\"<\/strong>. These three LHD-type ships, with a flight deck that occupies almost their entire length, are those of the so-called Mistral class: the \"Mistral\" L9013, the \"Tonnerre\" L9014 and the \"Dixmude\" L9015<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Several helicopters on the flight deck of the French Navy's Mistral-class helicopter carrier \"Tonnerre\" L9014 (Photo: Marine Nationale<\/a>).<\/div>\n

The Mistral-class ships are smaller than the \"Juan Carlos I\":<\/strong> they measure 199 meters in length and have a displacement of 21,500 tons, although they only operate helicopters. Initially, these ships had been designed to operate STOVL aircraft such as the Harrier II and the F-35B<\/strong>, including a jump ramp like the one the Spanish aircraft carrier has, but in 2001 the French Senate discarded it. The French Navy classifies them as \"intervention helicopter carriers\" (PHI)<\/strong>. Their capabilities are very similar to those of the \"Juan Carlos I\", as they have a vehicle hangar and a floodable dock at the rear that allows them to deploy landing craft and amphibious vehicles. They can carry up to 35 light helicopters or 16 heavy helicopters<\/strong>, as well as 450 soldiers and 70 vehicles.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Harrier II Plus fighters of the Spanish Navy aboard the aircraft carrier \"Juan Carlos I\" L-61 (Photo: Elentir<\/a>).<\/div>\n

If Spain were to follow the French naval model, that would mean forgetting about the F-35B<\/strong> when the Harrier IIs reach the end of their operational life. This would have serious implications, since the Spanish Navy would not have carrier-based fighters for a decade<\/strong>. This is the time that would pass between the retirement of the Harrier IIs in 2030 and the arrival of the FCAS in 2040, provided that this sixth-generation fighter jet does not arrive late. The attitude of the current Spanish government of avoiding talking about the F-35B as if it were a taboo<\/strong> suggests that this may be what will end up happening.<\/p>\n

---<\/p>\n

Main photo: U.S. Navy. A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B from VMM-262 aboard the amphibious aircraft carrier USS Tripoli on October 20, 2022.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For several years now, I’ve been following reports about Spain’s possible purchase of F-35 fighter jets, which has yet to materialize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19536,11545],"tags":[11229,17543,24791,17335,22013,24790,15042,12622,7072,1111,10669],"class_list":["post-60165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-said-yesterday","category-navy","tag-aircraft-carrier-juan-carlos-i-l61","tag-amphibious-assault-ship-castilla-l-52","tag-amphibious-assault-ship-dixmude-l9015","tag-amphibious-assault-ship-galicia-l-51","tag-amphibious-assault-ship-mistral-l9013","tag-amphibious-assault-ship-tonnerre-l9014","tag-charles-de-gaulle-r91","tag-french-navy","tag-lockheed-martin-f-35-lightning-ii","tag-mcdonnell-douglas-eav-8b-harrier-ii","tag-spanish-navy"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-12 02:23:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}