Spain rules out buying F-35, choosing between Eurofighter or FCAS
El Pais newspaper had reported earlier on Wednesday the government had shelved plans to buy the F-35, which is manufactured by U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab.
The government had earmarked 6.25 billion euros ($7.24 billion) in its 2023 budget to buy new fighter jets, El Pais said.
But the Spanish government's plan to spend most of the additional 10.5 billion euros for defence this year in Europe made it impossible to acquire U.S.-made fighter jets, the newspaper reported.
Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced plans earlier this year to increase spending on defence to meet the current NATO target of 2% of gross domestic product this year, and later refused to raise spending to 5% in the longer run.
Sanchez's position was heavily criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to impose additional tariffs on the country's goods.
Spokespeople for Lockheed Martin and the U.S. embassy in Madrid did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Eurofighter is manufactured by Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab, BAE systems (BAES.L), opens new tab and Leonardo (LDOF.MI), opens new tab, while FCAS is being developed by Dassault Aviation (AM.PA), opens new tab, Airbus and Indra Sistemas (IDR.MC), opens new tab.
($1 = 0.8634 euros)
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