The new airframe is a TAV-8B Harrier II of the Spanish Navy (Spanish: Armada Española) that still wears the U.S. Marine Corps paint scheme.
An interesting TAV-8B Harrier II aircraft of the Spanish Navy was photographed by our contributor David Parody at NAS (Naval Air Station) Rota, in southwestern Spain, on Mar. 3, 2021.
Indeed, the aircraft is a two-seater Harrier previously serving with the U.S. Marine Corps, that the Spanish Navy will use to replace another TAV-8B that got to a point which was beyond repair.
As the images show, the TAV-8 01-999 still features the dark grey paint scheme used by the USMC jump jets that is darker than the traditional Spanish Navy light grey.
The new airframe was transported to Spain by sea some months ago and the one on Mar. 3, 2021, was the first flight in Armada markings.
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The Escuadrilla 009 at NAS of the Spanish Navy operates both the single-seater EAV-8B and the two-seater TAV-8B Harrier II at NAS Rota, located southwest of Sevilla.
