Spain Abandons Purchase of U.S. F-35 Fighter Jets
According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Reuters via Mehr News Agency, a spokesperson for Spain’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that the country will no longer consider acquiring american-made F-35 fighter jets.
the ministry stated it will choose between Europe’s Eurofighter and the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) for its next air combat platform.
Earlier reports from El País indicated that the Spanish goverment had abandoned plans to purchase the F-35, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, a major U.S. aerospace company.
El País noted that Madrid allocated €6.25 billion ($7.24 billion) in its 2023 budget for new fighter jets. However, it reported that Spain’s plan to increase defense spending by an additional €10.5 billion within Europe this year makes purchasing American-built fighters infeasible.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced earlier this year an intention to raise defense expenditure to meet NATO’s current target of 2 percent of GDP in 2024 but later rejected proposals to increase this figure up to 5 percent in the long term.
