The Spanish Navy needs to prolong the operational life of its 12 AV-8B+ Harrier fighters of the Ninth Aircraft Squadron and it seems that it will be able to have them operational until 2030, that is, six more years in active service. But beyond that date it will be very difficult to keep the fixed wing embarked on the Juan Carlos I aircraft carrier.
Since 2021, Defense has been in talks with the United States Marine Corps (USCM) to, through the Joint Program Office (JPO), extend the current memorandum of understanding (MOU) from 2024 to 2028, in order to have the benefits of the umbrella that this cooperative program provides, in this case, with the USMC.”
Currently this veteran aircraft still operates in the USMC and in the Italian Navy, but both countries have already begun a transition from the Harrier aircraft to the F-35B, although each with different horizons in its implementation that have its effect on the loss of their AVs. -8B+. While Italy plans to stop flying the Harrier at the end of this year 2024, the USMC will do so in 2028. “This fact ensures support for the fleet of these aircraft until that time,” highlights the Navy.
In both cases, the transition is towards the F-35B Lightning II which, according to the United States Marine Corps itself, “represents a leap forward in the air domain by providing the operational agility and tactical supremacy that the Marines need to provide prompt and lethal support.”
Not to forget, the first F-35B entered service with the Marine Corps in January 2012, four years after the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) prototype first flew. In these 14 years the fifth generation fighter has been perfectly integrated into the USMC, which also operates the F-35C model on some aircraft carriers.
The Harrier aircraft is part of a program between three countries, the United States, through the Marine Corps, Italy (Military Navy) and Spain (Navy), supported by an MOU, valid until 2024. Participation in the program and the MOU , reminds the Navy, ensure that the Harrier aircraft continues to be a viable tactical system by providing solutions to the support of the platform, to the elements that are becoming outdated, and at the same time, enabling different updates to the aircraft systems.
If the negotiations go ahead, the Spanish Navy will guarantee the maintenance of the plane until 2028. That year, Spain was going to be the only country in the world with the AV-8B+ still in flight, although it is possible that in the United States there will still be some. From that date, the plan is to begin the progressive withdrawal of the fleet, which would end in 2030.
In 2021, the United States awarded BAE Systems and Vertex Aerospace to keep the Harrier AV-8B II operational for eight more years, that is, until 2029, given the delays in the F-35B program.
In the air is the replacement of the Navy’s AV8B+ with F-35B, as the United States and Italy have done, but for the moment the Ministry of Defense has not expressed any intention to carry out this acquisition despite the sources The military sees it as the only possible option to operate on the short runway of the LHD Juan Carlos I. In fact, even if the purchase of 12 F-35B were already decided, it is unknown when these units would begin to arrive, but given that there are many countries , especially Europeans, who have opted for this device, it may take years until the first plane arrives, and Spain could be left without its fixed wing on board, which would be a severe blow to its military capacity.
As explained by Ángel Tafalla, admiral (R) of the General Corps of the Navy, in an article in this newspaper, “in the Navy, the AV-8Bs essentially provide close support and air defense to the Marine Corps forces that constitute the core of the ability to project force towards land. Our entire Navy is currently built around this projection capability. If we lose embarked aviation, we lose the main reason for being constituted as we are and the degree of autonomy that we have had over the last 45 years, when, due to the visionary drive of one of our most important leaders, Admiral Suanzes, we were the first Navy in the world to embark the then AV-8S.”
Could they continue flying after 2030? Obviously, if Spain has been characterized by something in recent years, it is in prolonging the life of quite obsolete war material, but this is not predictable, among other things because the manufacturer will stop providing that maintenance service although parts of the devices could always be purchased. to retire the Marine Corps and hurry up a few more years.
Despite the many updates that have been carried out on the Harriers, they arrived in the Navy in 1987 with the idea of replacing their predecessor, the AV-8A “Matador”. Between 1996 and 1997 there was a new award of eight new AV-8B Plus that were assembled in the facilities of the old CASA, now Airbus, in Getafe, and another five aircraft were five modified old AV-8Bs. A new TAV-8B trainer would also be delivered in 2000.
Its modernization consisted of a larger fuselage, greater internal fuel capacity, a new more powerful engine, an AN/APG-65 radar which allows it day and night capability, FLIR AN/AAR-51 (located externally on the top of the nose)… As a power plant it incorporates the Rolls-Royce Pegasus II 408A engine with greater reliability and power than its predecessors. As for its armament, it is a very versatile aircraft with the capacity to carry weapons up to a weight of 6,000 kg, for which it has 7 stations or supports in which different combinations of weapons can be placed, in addition to a 25 mm Gatling cannon. .
Like its predecessors, it can operate from any conditioned surface on land or on board ships, to surfaces with minimal conditions such as a forest clearing, a beach, etc.
It has Air-Air and Air-Ground weapons, with short and medium-range missiles as well as laser and GPS guidance bombs and an EW electronic warfare suite (alerner and flare and chaff dispenser). It also has the ability to operate at all times with night vision goggles.
In any case, any comparison with the F-35B leaves the AV-8B+ far behind: the fifth generation fighter, in addition to being a virtually undetectable stealth aircraft, is larger, has a greater wingspan, is much faster, its The engine is almost twice as powerful and can carry many more different weapons, so the Navy would gain in capacity and strategic projection if it could have this aircraft on its fixed wing. Furthermore, we must take into account that our potential enemies have also been modernizing their aircraft, so that for many of the operations they would have to carry out they would be in inferior conditions.
2024-02-04 18:53:59
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