Indeed it is a bit of overreaction lol.
About Dédalo, Harriers were in service from 1976, so keep that in mind. For a 1974-5 campaign, she would have carried AH-1G Cobras. Indeed the Dédalo BG is a bit unprotected against air strikes, without Matadores and Baleares class frigates, but i think they would be operating close enough for Phantoms to cover them. Maybe, if PoAF priorize attacking the BG, it would be good for the Phantoms to have intercept as a higher priority role or something. That would explain both the low survivability of Dédalo and the lack of air to air missions for the Spanish Air Force. If they are to try fighter sweeps while the PoAF is all out for sinking Dédalo, the game engine could be diverting them to A-G missions as they don´t have enemy fighters doing CAP to sweep against, in example.