Every war the Spanish Naval Air Arm has fought
The naval air service ceased to exist as an independent force in the Civil War, when both sides placed all their aviation under a single command, and was abolished in 1939; since 1954 its record is one of embarked helicopters and drones on embargo and coalition operations. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Rif War in 1922 to Operation Atalanta in the Indian Ocean today.
| Conflict | Jaren | Tegen | Hoofdvliegtuig | Uitvallen | Vliegtuig verloren | |
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| The Rif War and the Alhucemas landingAlhucemas 1925Aeronáutica Naval | 1922–1926 | Republiek van de Rif (Abd el-Krim) | Supermarine Scarab, Macchi M.18, Macchi M.24en nog 2 | |||
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Seaplanes and an airship from the carrier Dédalo flew reconnaissance and bombing missions, most notably in support of the Alhucemas landing. The Rif War of 1921–1926 was the young naval air service’s only real war. Its instrument was the Dédalo, a German freighter seized in 1918 and converted in Barcelona into a carrier for seaplanes, flying boats, two small airships and observation balloons. On 8 September 1925, according to Wikipedia’s account of the ship, her Supermarine Scarab flying boats and one of her airships bombed in support of the Spanish landing at Alhucemas Bay, the heart of Abd el-Krim’s territory. Wikipedia’s article on the landing counts 162 aircraft in the operation, army Breguet XIXs, Bristol Fighters and Potez XVs, navy Macchi M.24 and Scarab seaplanes, and French Farman Goliaths. The Armada calls Alhucemas the first air-naval landing in history; Wikipedia describes it as the first amphibious landing with tanks and massive seaborne air support. The wider war is also remembered for Spain’s use of chemical weapons from 1924, which Wikipedia records against civilian populations; no source checked ties naval aircraft to gas attacks, and none is claimed here. Resultaat The landing succeeded; Spain and France defeated the Rif Republic by 1926. Naval aviation sortie and loss figures were not found. The 162-aircraft total covers all services, Spanish and French.
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| De Spaanse Burgeroorlogthe end of Aeronáutica NavalAeronáutica Naval | 1936–1939 | Dornier Wal, Savoia-Marchetti S.62 | ||||
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The naval air service ceased to exist as an independent force: the Armada records that both sides placed all their aviation under a single command. When the war began in July 1936 the naval air service had about a hundred aircraft in twelve squadrons, according to the Armada, and had trained around a thousand personnel and 121 officers by 1939. The Armada’s history says little else: both sides unified their aviation under one command, and naval aircraft fought as part of it. Wikipedia’s article on the Republican air force notes that when the Republic replaced its tricolour roundel it adopted red bands that the monarchy’s naval aviation had used in the 1920s, and lists the Savoia-Marchetti S.62 flying boat among its reconnaissance types. The old carrier Dédalo, decommissioned in 1934 and struck in April 1936, was damaged by bombs in Valencia harbour and sank there on 1 March 1940. The consequence for the navy was total: after 1939 all military flying belonged to the new Ejército del Aire, and the Armada had no aircraft of its own until 1954. Resultaat The creation of the air force at the end of the war in 1939 meant, in the Armada’s words, the total disappearance of the navy’s air arm. Which side each naval air unit served, and its losses, were not established from the sources checked and are not stated.
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| Operation Sharp Guard and the Adriaticthe Yugoslav embargoFlotilla de Aeronaves | 1993–1996 | Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (embargo) | SH-60B, AV-8B (reported) | |||
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SH-60B helicopters flew from Spanish ships enforcing the NATO/WEU arms embargo against the former Yugoslavia. The Armada lists Sharp Guard first among its SH-60B squadron’s operations and in its history among the flotilla’s main operations. Wikipedia’s account of the operation, which ran from 15 June 1993 to 2 October 1996, lists Spain among 14 contributing nations and says NATO ships inspected some 5,800 vessels at sea and diverted 1,400 to port, without detailing the Spanish ships. Wikipedia’s article on the Príncipe de Asturias says the carrier frequently took part in peace support operations in the Adriatic. Its AV-8B article adds that Spanish EAV-8Bs took part in Operation Deny Flight over Bosnia; the Deny Flight article itself names only Spanish Air Force aircraft (a C-212 hit by a missile and EF-18s at Pale in May 1995), and no official Spanish page checked mentions Harrier missions over Bosnia. That claim is therefore reported, not confirmed. Resultaat The embargo was suspended on 19 June 1996 and the operation ended on 2 October 1996. Spanish Harrier participation in Deny Flight rests on one Wikipedia article and is not confirmed by the Armada or by the Deny Flight article.
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| Enduring Freedom, Active Endeavour, Iraq and LebanonLibertad DuraderaFlotilla de Aeronaves | 2002–2016 | al-Qaeda | SH-60B | |||
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Embarked SH-60Bs on frigates and task groups in counter-terrorism and coalition maritime operations. The 10th Squadron’s page lists a string of deployments after 2001 without dates or figures: Libertad Duradera, the Spanish name for Enduring Freedom, in the Indian Ocean, which the Armada’s history dates to 2002; a deployment to Lebanon; the Iraq war, flown with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group; NATO’s standing groups in the Mediterranean and Atlantic; and Active Endeavour, NATO’s counter-terrorism patrol in the Mediterranean. Wikipedia’s AV-8B article notes that Spain did not send its carrier to the 2003 Iraq war, positioning Air Force F/A-18s in Turkey instead, so the Iraq entry refers to helicopters on escorts, not to the Harriers. No sortie counts, flying hours or loss figures are published for these missions, and none are given here. Resultaat Deployments ended as the operations closed; the Armada gives no dates for most of them. Dates of the Lebanon and Iraq deployments and the ships involved were not confirmed; the end year 2016 marks Active Endeavour’s close, not a confirmed Spanish date.
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| The 2011 intervention in LibyaOperatie Unified ProtectorFlotilla de Aeronaves | 2011 | Libië (regering van Gaddafi) | SH-60B | 0 | ||
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Embarked helicopters on the Spanish ships enforcing the UN arms embargo; the Armada lists the Libya intervention among the SH-60B squadron’s deployments. Spain’s contribution to the 2011 campaign, as summarised by Wikipedia, was six Air Force F-18s, two Boeing 707 tankers, two CN-235 maritime patrol aircraft, the frigate Méndez Núñez and the submarine Tramontana, with the Rota base made available to NATO; the Spanish forces flew air control and maritime surveillance to stop arms reaching the regime. The Armada’s 10th Squadron page lists the Libya intervention among its SH-60B deployments, which fits the frigate’s embarked helicopter. Wikipedia’s AV-8B article also states that Spanish aircraft took part in Unified Protector alongside Italian Harriers; the Libya article does not list any Spanish Harriers or the Juan Carlos I, and no official page checked mentions them. This page therefore credits the naval air arm with helicopter embargo work only. Resultaat NATO ended the operation on 31 October 2011 after the fall of the Gaddafi government. The claim of Spanish Harrier participation (Wikipedia AV-8B article) is contradicted by the Libya intervention article’s list of Spanish forces and is not adopted.
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| Operation AtalantaEU counter-piracy off SomaliaFlotilla de Aeronaves | 2008– | Somalische piraten | SH-60B, H135, ScanEagle | |||
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SH-60B, H135 and ScanEagle detachments on Spanish frigates, docks and supply ships, the air arm’s longest continuous operation. The EU’s counter-piracy mission began on 8 December 2008, and the Armada says its SH-60B squadron keeps a permanent presence in the Indian Ocean under it. Wikipedia lists Spanish frigates, corvettes, the docks Galicia and Castilla and the oiler Patiño among the ships sent, and ScanEagle drones among the assets. The 11th Squadron’s first operational deployment was to Atalanta on 20 April 2015, with further rotations in 2016 and 2017 and continuously since 2020. The specialist site Aeronaves Militares Españolas logs recent detachments, among them the frigate Almirante Juan de Borbón with an SH-60B from January to April 2026 and the Patiño with an H135 from February to April 2026. Since Brexit the operation has been commanded from Rota, the air arm’s own home. Resultaat Continuing; the operation’s headquarters has been at Rota since 29 March 2019. Deployment-by-deployment records before 2020 were not reviewed; no totals are given.
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| Operatie Inherent ResolveScanEagles in IraqFlotilla de Aeronaves (11th Squadron) | 2017–2019 | Islamitische Staat | ScanEagle | |||
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A ScanEagle detachment flew reconnaissance for the coalition against Islamic State from land. The Armada’s drone squadron page lists a deployment to Iraq for Operation Inherent Resolve from 2017 to 2019, between its Indian Ocean rotations. Aeronaves Militares Españolas dates the first Iraq deployment to October 2017 and the end of the mission to November 2019, at about 1,000 flying hours. Resultaat The detachment ended in November 2019. Location within Iraq and the tasks flown were not published on the pages checked.
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Elk cijfer, gecontroleerd
- Armada Española: Breve geschiedenis van de Aviación Naval Española 1917–2017Koninklijk besluit 15 september 1917; Cardona; stations; Dedalo 1922; Alhucemas; ongeveer 100 vliegtuigen in 1936; 1939 verdwijning; Bell 47s 1 januari 1954, eerste vlucht 19 juni 1954; Rota 1957; squadrons 1963–1966; Harrier-demo 1972; zeven AV-8A's december 1976; Scherpe bewaker, Libertad Duradera.
- Armada Española: 10.ª Escuadrilla de Aeronaves (SH-60B/F)Opgericht in 1988; zes SH-60B's op 22 december 1988, zes Block I in oktober 2002; 5e Squadron ontbonden in november 2025 en zes SH-60F's overgedragen; acht MH-60R en nog twee SH-60F's in aantocht; uitzendingen onder andere naar Sharp Guard, Libertad Duradera, Irak, Libanon, Active Endeavour, Libië en Atalanta.
- Armada Española: Aeronaves no tripuladas – 11.ª Escuadrilla (ScanEagle)Created 10 July 2014; training at Insitu 2014; first deployment 20 April 2015 (Atalanta); Iraq 2017–2019; 68 personnel; SCRAB-II targets.
- Aeronaves Militares Españolas: ScanEagle (Armada)Systems and air vehicles; Iraq October 2017–November 2019, about 1,000 hours; ViDAR sensor June 2026.
- Aeronaves Militares Españolas: FLOAN international missionsAtalanta detachments since 2020, incl. 2024 and 2026.
Cijfers geverifieerd op 30-09-2026. Back to the Spanish Naval Air Arm.