Overview
- Spain’s defence ministry officially ruled out buying U.S.-made F-35 fighters and has finalized an order for 25 additional Eurofighter Typhoons under the Halcón II programme.
- Madrid will allocate about 85% of its €10.5 billion defence boost to Eurofighter and the Franco-German-Spanish FCAS project in order to meet NATO’s 2% GDP target without acceding to a 5% demand.
- The decision creates a fixed-wing gap for the Navy after the Harrier AV-8B fleet retires by 2030, as carrier modernisation plans won’t restore jet operations until the mid-2030s.
- Spain remains committed to FCAS as its long-term backbone despite delays and industrial disputes among Airbus, Dassault and Indra over workshare and funding.
- The move aligns with similar retrenchments by Canada and Portugal and highlights a growing European drive for defence sovereignty amid doubts over U.S. reliability.