Spain has abandoned plans to purchase American F-35 fighter jets. This was reported by the newspaper El Pais, citing unnamed government sources.
The publication states that the Spanish government allocated \$6.25 billion in the 2023 budget for the purchase of new fighter jets.
According to the publication, the Spanish government’s plan to spend most of the additional €10.5 billion on defense in 2025 in Europe has made it impossible to acquire fighter jets.
Earlier, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP would require painful measures, including reducing pensions or eliminating benefits.
