https://www.defensenews.com/digital-...aging-hornets/
F-35, Eurofighter Typhoon are ‘the two options’ to replace Spain’s aging Hornets
MADRID — Spain has two aircraft in mind to replace over 70 EF-18A fighter jets, and while the program has yet to formally begin, the informal competition between the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed Martin F-35 is just getting hotter.
Madrid is running two separate efforts to replace its aging Hornets, with the first and more immediate effort involving its 20 oldest platforms, currently based in the Canary Islands. While the contract has yet to be signed, the service expects to substitute those aircraft on a 1-1 basis with Eurofighter Typhoon multirole jets, said Col. Jesus Ferrer, chief of coordination for fixed-wing systems for Spain’s military procurement office.
The second program aims to replace the wider F-18 fleet, operating out of the air force’s Zaragoza and Torrejón air bases. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is being considered for this program along with more Eurofighters, Ferrer told Defense News Thursday on the sidelines of the biennial FEINDEF conference in Madrid. “Those are the two options,” he asserted……
The wider F-18 fleet is scheduled to remain in service until at least 2030, and Spain’s procurement office is just beginning the aircraft feasibility studies, Ferrer said. It may come down to one major factor: Whether the Navy opts to buy about a dozen F-35B vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft. “If they get the F-35, one option for the Spanish air force will be to purchase the F-35, but we are weighing all the options,” Ferrer said.
But the Typhoons also remain very much in play. “The Spanish air force is very linked to the Eurofighter world,” he noted.
A contract for the 20 Canary Islands-based aircraft may arrive by next year, pending government approval of funds, Ferrer said…..