Spain adds 25 European fighter jets to its initial order

Spain buys 25 European warplanes: the debate is where they are built

The news is that Spain is adding a second batch of 25 fighter jets to the first one of 20. The fine print is where they are assembled. In Getafe, the front fuselage section is built, including the pilot's cockpit and the nose of the aircraft, and it is there that the units delivered to the Spanish Air Force are assembled. In Illescas, carbon fiber parts for the Eurofighter are produced, such as wing sections and other aerodynamic surfaces. In Puerto Real, the tail section is assembled, with vertical and horizontal stabilizers. In San Pablo, Seville, avionics, flight control systems and weapons systems are integrated. The supply chain is European and, according to those who trinc the program, the work split is fairly balanced.

The problem is not the aircraft. It is the ambition. Part of the analysis holds that a country capable of designing, building, certifying, exporting and repairing aircraft — the whole cycle — should aspire to a complete aircraft rather than a small piece. The response from the other side carries weight: a sixth-generation fighter is beyond the reach of any single country, even those that have been at it for decades, and the joint European programs are running late.

What Spain builds of the European fighter jet

The industrial split of the European program leaves Spain with four plants and a workload that is far from symbolic. Getafe, Illescas, Puerto Real and San Pablo cover everything from nose to tail, including composite materials and systems integration. This is not an assembly shop: it is a portion of the aircraft spread across Spanish geography.

That does not appease those demanding more. The argument goes that if Sweden or Israel have produced their own aircraft with less industrial muscle, there should also be a full-fledged national project here. The counterargument is that the market rules: there is fierce competition from country-as-company players with a head start, and in Latin America or Africa Spanish hardware does not sell easily because buyers are captive customers of their old suppliers.

Why doesn't Spain design a fighter jet on its own?

Because the entry cost is prohibitive and the return is doubtful. A sixth-generation aircraft requires pooling several countries, and even then the programs get stuck. The objection raised from the industrial-skeptic camp is different: for decades, companies of all kinds sold products around the world without needing megamergers, and now everything is deemed impossible except for oligopolies headquartered in the Netherlands.

The counterargument has numbers behind it. The European program does not depend on third-country permits for its use or its maintenance, unlike other options bought abroad. And the Spanish plants already take part in the full cycle: design, manufacturing, certification, export and repair. Only seven countries can say the same.

The Turkish Hürjet and the future of the F-18s at Gando

The second batch points to a Turkish training and light attack aircraft, the Hürjet, with the intention that part of it be built or assembled in Spain. A painted unit from Wing 23 has already been presented. The move has its defenders: it tightens industrial ties with Turkey, which buys Spanish naval technology and at one point purchased the CN-235.

The urgency comes from the Canary Islands. The F-18s at Gando air base have been suffering obsolescence since 2018, battered by the salty air and the fine sand, and if none has crashed it is because they fly little. Replacing the F-5s and the C-101s, which were built here under license, is also pressing. Now, some joke, all we manufacture is debt.

Drones, rockets or nothing: the debate over what to buy

Some argue that crewed aviation's days are numbered and that the future lies in hypersonic drones — light and cheap — for which a national factory could actually be built without excuses. Others back rocketry and a strong army. And a third, more bitter camp holds that these aircraft will end up donated to Ukraine or sold as scrap without ever firing a missile.

The striking fact: the 25 aircraft come on top of the 20 from the first batch, and the European program still has no clear date for its sixth-generation successor. Meanwhile, Getafe keeps assembling noses and cockpits.