As per the reports, Madrid has suspended the preliminary contacts with the US for the purchase of fifth-generation American stealth jets, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightening-2 fighter aircrafts. Instead, Spain is looking for new defence partners within the Europe for the sake of acquiring fighter aircrafts with cutting edge technologies. F-35 Lightening-2 aircraft is said to be one among the world’s most advanced fifth generation fighter aircraft that is known for its aerial superiority, combat capabilities and intelligence & surveillance capacity with advanced sensors.
However, the decision of the Spanish government comes as a major blow to the defence ambitions of US, especially Madrid being a NATO partner. “Spanish options involves the current Eurofighter Typhoon and the upcoming Future Combat Air System(FCAS) in the future”, Spanish defence ministry sources said while citing about the nation’s options to strike defence acquisition deals within Europe.
What Makes the Spain to Switch its Decision?
In 2017, Madrid had issued a non-binding request to the US to share information about the F-35 aircraft. Infact, the 2023 budget of Spain had set aside over six billion euros for replacing both its navy and airforce aircrafts with F-35 by 2030.
However, the latest decision comes amidst the distorted relations between the US and Spain. Trump’s open criticism of European nations with respect to their contributions to NATO has created discomfort in Spain and across Europe. Trump administration has urged the NATO allies to increase the defence spending upto 5% of GDP from the previous target of 2% of GDP. Trump also has frequently threatened to pull US out of the NATO military alliance.
These policies of Trump have triggered concerns in Europe regarding the probable pull-out of US from the NATO. In such a scenario, Europe must be self-sufficient and should have its own defence industrial base to take NATO forward. In this regard, Spain is looking for defence partners within Europe and to reduce the dependency on US. Infact, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had outrightly criticized Trump’s NATO policy and said, “Trump’s policy is incompatible given the welfare state and other economic priorities of Spain”. Irked by the Spanish PM statement Trump had threatened to impose additional tariffs on the goods of Madrid.
The latest decision of Spain regarding the purchase of F-35 from the US, thus comes as a cumulative impact of soaring tensions between Trump and his NATO allies. Prime Minister Sanchez had also given call for his EU members to work on defence independence of the Europe, which was against the ambitions of Trump where he had urged the NATO members to enhance defence spending by purchasing American equipments.
Series of Setback for the F-35
The decision of the Spanish government to indefinitely halt the purchase of F-35 comes just months after the Portugal government made a similar decree. In March, Portugal said that it is reconsidering its plans to purchase the F-35 and is also looking for other options within Europe. The major concern for the Portugal to procure F-35 was that the aircraft is extremely controlled by America. It is said that F-35 fleet would be ineffective without American controlled maintenance, logistical and network support. Portugal raised apprehensions as such a mechanism would give US an indirect control over the defence operations and national security of other nations.
“The world has changed. And this ally of ours. They could bring limitations to use, maintenance, components and everything that has to do with ensuring that aircraft will be operational and used in all types of scenarios. There are several options that must be considered, particularly in the context of European production”, the Defence Minister of Portuguese had said in an interview.
Meanwhile, Canada is also considering and reviewing about its F-35 purchases after Trump imposed massive tariffs on the neighbouring country. Canadian President Mark Carney had said that the country is looking for alternatives to the F-35 particularly in Europe. India as well has reiterated that it is not keen on purchasing the F-35.
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