Makes sense from a budget priority perspective, but does presumably rule out a replacement for the AV-8B.
Would like to see another round of Eurofighter purchases from the various operators in the face of growing security threats, given Germany just ordered some and the upgraded radar from UK/IT is promising.
It just makes sense with Spain being “all in” on Airbus similar to Germany & France that they are committing to FCAS as much as they did and once you do that, it makes little sense to replace older planes with the F35 when you already have a significant amount of Eurofighters. As long as the Eurofighter is a viable choice (opposed to ie the German F18 purchase) it would be a weird move to commit to the F35 if you also don’t have the plan to really use it long term because then you want to replace the Typhoons with FCAS eventually.
Feels like a bit of a non story I guess it’s mostly just a sensible choice and not much else. Not even debating better suited planes and all that because I don’t think it matters in this context.
So will Spain no longer have a fixed wing aircraft carrier capability once their ageing AV-8Bs retire? That’s principally what they were looking at the F35B for as far as I know, and while the French have an interest in making the new jointly developed fighter carrier capable, their current and future carriers are much larger than Principe de Asturias, and have a catapults and traps arrangement for launch/recovery.
After this and the Navantia agreements with Turkey I wouldn’t be surprised if Spain sold its aircraft carrier to Turkey then. Turkey is still willing to keep their aircraft carrying aspirations alive while Spain has deleted them with this choice, plus they are committed to the FCAS project. What’s the point of keeping *Juan Carols I* then? They might as well recover some of the money spent on it and replace it with an amphibious assault-only ship which is more modern and tailored to new naval operations that don’t include fixed-wing aircrafts.
That is what Belgium should have done too
Doesn’t the F-35 and FCAS project have totally different roles?
It it even a viable option to replace the Eurofighter with FCAS?
There is nothing official right now, just contacts with LM.
The Ejército del Aire wants F35A as a transition plane to substitute the F18A/B till FCAS arrives and the Armada wants F35B to substitute its Harriers. The Ejército del Aire wants a new plane with strike capability inside Morocco due to Morocco buying A2AD Chinese systems and F35 is ideal when you realise the huge panoply of AG and standoff weapons available for it. In case someone ask why we cannot strike with the EF, our EFs T2/T3 didn’t integrated most MBDA standoff weapons because these are not in the inventory of the EdA.
There is project to buy a new EF wing for the Canary Islands as the F18 stationed there are second hand ex Marine corps and are in worse condition and haven’t been updated as much as the ones in the mainland territory. Anyway, there is uncertainty if the Gov plans buying now a EF T3B wing or waiting till the T4 for is ready with the new radar developed by Germany and Spain.
I won’t be surprised if Spain finally decides to buy F35 and goes out of FCAS if France and Germany decide not to give Spain the leadership of the C295 substitute.
Check out British new taranis jet fighter . booooom Euro fighter
8 comments
Makes sense from a budget priority perspective, but does presumably rule out a replacement for the AV-8B.
Would like to see another round of Eurofighter purchases from the various operators in the face of growing security threats, given Germany just ordered some and the upgraded radar from UK/IT is promising.
It just makes sense with Spain being “all in” on Airbus similar to Germany & France that they are committing to FCAS as much as they did and once you do that, it makes little sense to replace older planes with the F35 when you already have a significant amount of Eurofighters. As long as the Eurofighter is a viable choice (opposed to ie the German F18 purchase) it would be a weird move to commit to the F35 if you also don’t have the plan to really use it long term because then you want to replace the Typhoons with FCAS eventually.
Feels like a bit of a non story I guess it’s mostly just a sensible choice and not much else. Not even debating better suited planes and all that because I don’t think it matters in this context.
So will Spain no longer have a fixed wing aircraft carrier capability once their ageing AV-8Bs retire? That’s principally what they were looking at the F35B for as far as I know, and while the French have an interest in making the new jointly developed fighter carrier capable, their current and future carriers are much larger than Principe de Asturias, and have a catapults and traps arrangement for launch/recovery.
After this and the Navantia agreements with Turkey I wouldn’t be surprised if Spain sold its aircraft carrier to Turkey then. Turkey is still willing to keep their aircraft carrying aspirations alive while Spain has deleted them with this choice, plus they are committed to the FCAS project. What’s the point of keeping *Juan Carols I* then? They might as well recover some of the money spent on it and replace it with an amphibious assault-only ship which is more modern and tailored to new naval operations that don’t include fixed-wing aircrafts.
That is what Belgium should have done too
Doesn’t the F-35 and FCAS project have totally different roles?
It it even a viable option to replace the Eurofighter with FCAS?
There is nothing official right now, just contacts with LM.
The Ejército del Aire wants F35A as a transition plane to substitute the F18A/B till FCAS arrives and the Armada wants F35B to substitute its Harriers. The Ejército del Aire wants a new plane with strike capability inside Morocco due to Morocco buying A2AD Chinese systems and F35 is ideal when you realise the huge panoply of AG and standoff weapons available for it. In case someone ask why we cannot strike with the EF, our EFs T2/T3 didn’t integrated most MBDA standoff weapons because these are not in the inventory of the EdA.
There is project to buy a new EF wing for the Canary Islands as the F18 stationed there are second hand ex Marine corps and are in worse condition and haven’t been updated as much as the ones in the mainland territory. Anyway, there is uncertainty if the Gov plans buying now a EF T3B wing or waiting till the T4 for is ready with the new radar developed by Germany and Spain.
I won’t be surprised if Spain finally decides to buy F35 and goes out of FCAS if France and Germany decide not to give Spain the leadership of the C295 substitute.
Check out British new taranis jet fighter . booooom Euro fighter