Scaffali della Spagna prevede di acquistare jet da combattimento F-35, riferisce El Pais

>MADRID, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Spain has shelved plans to buy F-35 fighter jets, manufactured by U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, El Pais newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified government sources.

>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](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-vows-meet-nato-spending-goal-2-gdp-2025-2025-04-22/) 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, and later [refused to raise spending to 5%](https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/spains-sanchez-insists-current-defence-spending-sufficient-2025-06-25/) during a summit in June.

>Sanchez’s position [was heavily criticized](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-says-spain-will-pay-more-trade-deal-after-refusal-meet-nato-defense-2025-06-25/) by U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to impose additional tariffs o the country’s goods

>Spokespeople for Spain’s Defence Ministry and for Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

>($1 = 0.8634 euros)

[El Pais article](https://elpais.com/espana/2025-08-06/el-gobierno-aparca-la-compra-de-cazas-f-35-estadounidenses-y-busca-alternativas-europeas.html) translated Using Deepl:

>The government shelves the purchase of US F-35 fighter jets and seeks European alternatives

>The Navy will lose its carrier-based aviation until it has an aircraft carrier

>Miguel González

>Madrid – 06 AUG 2025

>The purchase of F-35 Lightning II aircraft, the fifth-generation US stealth fighter jet, for the Spanish Armed Forces has been definitively shelved, according to government sources. Preliminary contacts that had already begun have been suspended indefinitely. Although the government approved a £10.471 billion plan last April and has committed to spending 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on security and defence, the decision to invest 85% of these funds in Europe is considered incompatible with acquiring a US model as the spearhead of combat aviation.

>The Ministry of Defence issued a non-binding RFI (request for information) for the Lockheed Martin fighter jet, and the 2023 budget included an initial allocation of 6.25 billion for the ‘replacement aircraft for the AV-8B and C-15M 2nd phase’ (i.e., the Navy’s Harriers and the Air Force’s last F-18s); even the British publication Janes, which specialises in armaments, mentioned last year a possible order of 50 units by Spain. However, those plans have been shelved.

>The decision leaves the navy with no alternative, as it plans to decommission its AV8B Harriers in 2030. Extending their operational life is out of the question, not only because they have been in service for almost half a century, but also because the US Marine Corps and the Italian Navy are retiring their last aircraft of this model, leaving the Spanish Navy as the sole user, with no market for parts and spare parts. The only vertical take-off fighter aircraft that can replace the Harrier is precisely the F-35B, the naval version of the Lightning II, acquired by the United States and Italy, so giving it up means that the Navy will be left without fixed-wing aircraft and only helicopters will be able to operate from the Juan Carlos I ship.

>The Navy has already commissioned the public shipyard Navantia to carry out a feasibility study for an aircraft carrier with a deck long enough to allow aircraft to land on its runway with an arresting hook, and not just vertical take-off aircraft. This would allow it to opt for naval fighters such as the French Rafale. In any case, they would not arrive in time to cover the loss of the Harriers, so that capability will be lost for a few years.

>The Air and Space Force had also set its sights on the F-35 in its A version to replace the F-18s, as a bridge until the European FCAS (Future Combat Air System) becomes a reality, a sixth-generation fighter that will not be operational until 2040 at best. The head of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Francisco Braco, has ruled out the purchase of more Eurofighters, so as not to depend on a single fleet of fighter jets, due to the risk of having to ground the entire fleet if a structural problem is detected.

>The F35A was the preferred option, as it is technologically superior to its competitors in aspects such as its stealth capabilities, which were evident in the recent US and Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. “We do not have an alternative to a fifth-generation aircraft with truly advanced stealth technology. That is the reality,‘ acknowledged the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral General Teodoro López Calderón, in July. ’We will have to survive with the fourth generation that we have [Eurofighter] and wait for the arrival of the FCAS one day. The problem is that we have to wait many years,” he added.

Yeah, not sure why you’d buy military equipment from your enemy with a built-in kill switch.

Makes sense politically, but definitely a big move in terms of military capability.

Well that’s a choice, but it seems quite a risky one to me. It means a severe struggle (just ask the Royal Navy!) to regenerate naval aviation even if the rumoured new Spanish aircraft carrier is eventually delivered, given the gap of at least a decade that will develop after AV-8B is retired in 2030…and even if Navantia could deliver a ship by 2040, FCAS’ 2040 delivery date looks “a bit wobbly”.

There’s also the challenge of Algeria’s acquisition of Su-57, deliveries of which are meant to begin this year…relations are good, sure, but a minimum of 15 years is quite a long time to put up with a marked inferiority to a neighbouring non-allied air force for a major European country in my view.

Good on Sanchez, for not buying a plane that presents no operational or tactical advantage *to Spain* except giving Trump a political win.

Let the Eurocanards contest start.

I want the spineless german government to stop buying anything from the US as well. And send vdL to hell for bending over.

They know how to play the game of Chicken in Spain.

Not so much in Germany and Italy.

Germany always chickens out – GACO

Italy always chickens oyt – IACO