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http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... stead.htmlAdios F-35 Purchase: Spain Extends the Life of Its Harriers
(Source: ElConfidential; published May 28, 2014)
(Issued in Spanish; unofficial edited translation by Defense-Aerospace.com)
Spain will extend the service life of its AV-8B Plus Harrier shipboard fighters until at least 2015
as it cannot afford to buy F-35B STOVL fighters to replace them, as it originally planned.
One of the biggest concerns of the Spanish navy about its future -- the 'expiration' of the Harrier fighters and their complicated succession – has now been solved by a 70-million euro plan to extend their service life beyond 2025.
Their intended replacement, the American F-35B, must wait "until it becomes financially accessible" for Spain.
Spain has secured the future of its naval air wing, after years of uncertainty about what vertical takeoff fighters it would operate after 2020.
After the loss of the aircraft carrier 'Principe de Asturias’ -- an ideal platform for STOVL fighters, but which has now been retired -- the Navy had begun a process of reducing its Harrier force.
Four of them were 'retired' after having been modernized at a total cost of about 11 million euros (about 3 million euros each) as no economic resources were available to operate and support them.
However, the picture changed dramatically after the May 23 meeting of the Council of Ministers,
when the government announced an extension of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Harrier’s lifecycle support, and which was to expire next December.
With an outlay of 70 million euros-spread over ten years, Spain has gained access to the equipment and spare parts necessary to ensure that its fleet of AV-8B Harrier Plus fighters continue flying beyond 2025.
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