How allies would view a Spanish naval modernization plan

How would NATO and non-NATO powers react if Spain carried out its ten-year naval expansion and modernization plan?

NATO would broadly welcome the added balanced force, but the decisive question would be whether successive governments sustained the ships, crews, and supporting fleet for the full decade.

NATO powers would welcome a better balanced Spanish fleet because it would add allied naval capacity. Sustaining the programme would require ships, crews, and supporting forces to survive changes of government. Britain's 1998 carrier plan provides the comparison: two carriers needed the intended destroyers, frigates, submarines, logistics ships, and full crews around them. Democratic government does not inevitably prevent continuity, since the dreadnought race continued through changes of ministers and governments. The concern is whether a modern ten-year plan can retain that consistency.