06 August 2025 13:43<\/p>\n
Spain has scrapped its planned purchase of F-35 fighter jets from US defence contractor Lockheed Martin, prioritizing investment in European defence initiatives over transatlantic military acquisitions.<\/strong><\/p>\n The decision follows an internal reassessment of Spain\u2019s 2025 defence budget, Caliber.Az<\/strong><\/a> reports, citing <\/strong><\/a>Spanish media.<\/p>\n While the Spanish government had previously earmarked \u20ac6.25 billion for the acquisition of advanced fighter aircraft in its 2023 budget, a broader shift toward European strategic autonomy appears to have taken precedence.<\/p>\n This year, the government has committed an additional \u20ac10.5 billion toward collaborative European defence projects \u2014 a move that renders the procurement of the US-made F-35s financially and politically untenable. The pivot aligns with Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez’s long-declared aim of increasing Spain\u2019s defence expenditure to meet the NATO benchmark of 2% of GDP, a target widely endorsed across the alliance.<\/p>\n However, the decision has drawn sharp criticism from Washington. US President Donald Trump publicly lambasted S\u00e1nchez\u2019s decision not to further raise military spending to 5% of GDP, and has reportedly threatened retaliatory tariffs on Spanish exports.<\/p>\n As NATO members continue to debate the future of collective defence and burden-sharing, Spain\u2019s decision could mark a pivotal moment in the continent\u2019s evolving defence identity.<\/p>\n By Vafa Guliyeva<\/p>\n Caliber.Az<\/b><\/p>\n Read more about the key topics in this news story.<\/p>\n Views: 37<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"06 August 2025 13:43 Spain has scrapped its planned purchase of F-35 fighter jets from US defence contractor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[23355,7503,7502,2000,299,23356,23359,466,23358,23357,23354,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-322193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-analysis-of-azerbaijan","9":"tag-azerbaijan","10":"tag-baku","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-important-news-of-azerbaijan","14":"tag-international-experts","15":"tag-interviews","16":"tag-interviews-with-azerbaijani-analysts","17":"tag-news-from-baku","18":"tag-news-of-azerbaijan","19":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114981222701741794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}