The Navy has commissioned the Public Shipyard Navantia a viability study on the construction of the first conventional Spanish aircraft; That is, the one in which the airplanes can take rolling on the track. Until now, the Portaaeronaves that the Spanish Navy (Dedalo, Prince of Asturias or Juan Carlos I) has only allowed to operate the vertical shot airplanes, which poses a problem, as it limits the current options to a single model: the US F-35 Bravo, the only operational hunt with vertical landing capacity and short takeoff (STVOL).
Navy sources warn that the dependence of a single plane model is a vulnerability, not only political, but also industrial, since the manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, could stop producing it due to lack of profitability or having problems in the supply chain. That has led those responsible for the Navy to bet because one of the three holder ships provided in the 2050 Armed Plan, which sets its capabilities objectives for the mid -century, has a conventional take -based capacity.
The study commissioned to Navantia and financed with the Navy’s own funds must specify the technical characteristics of the ship, from the length of the track to the displacement, although it is estimated that it will be around 40,000 tons, 50% more than Juan Carlos I LHD, the largest ship of the Spanish Navy, and can embark about thirty aircraft, between airplanes and helicopters. In addition, the incorporation of an electromagnetic catapult will be studied for the launch and recovery of airplanes. Military sources argue that, from the technological point of view, the design and construction of a conventional aircraft carrier is less complex than that of a frigate and multiplies the projection capacity of long -distance naval power.
The Navy faces the need to replace its vertical take -off aircraft Harrier AV8B, which you will have to unsubscribe at the end of this decade at the end of its operational life and have stopped manufacturing. In order not to lose its fixed wing aviation, the only option in the marking is the F-35B, of which you need to acquire 12 units, with option for six others. The Ministry of Defense has not yet given green light to this acquisition, not only for its high cost but for the political commitment in favor of the European industry. The final decision will depend on the American hunting being also the model chosen to replace the F-18 of the Air Force, which would allow to negotiate the purchase of a greater number of devices, at a better price and with greater participation of Spanish companies.
The Navy project to have a conventional aircraft carrier opens the range of possibilities, since it would allow to opt for another version of the F-35, the Charlie, or for a European model, such as the French Rafale M.
In any case, the sources consulted explain that it is an embryonic project and that, once the viability study is completed, the Government must make a decision. Their financing, they add, would be possible with 2.1% of GDP that Spain has pledged to invest in defense. The time needed to make a project of this size between 10 and 15 years.
At the moment, the Navy hopes that in the coming weeks the S-82, the second of the S-80 series, will be flooded, 18 months late on the initial calendar, and that in October the programs contemplated in the Industrial Security and Defense Plan endowed with 10,471 million are launched. Among them, the future Naval Platform for Intelligence and Electronic War, the new combat supply vessel (BAC) or the Oceanic Hydrographic Ship.
