Spain has no plans to buy U.S. F35 fighters, defence ministry says

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain has no plans to buy F35 fighter planes from the United States and remains committed to the European FCAS fighter programme, a defence ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

A report on Nov. 4 in the French business magazine Challenges, citing an analyst at the defence specialist magazine Jane’s, suggested Spain may be interested in buying the F35 fighter from the United States.

However, Spain said it was fully committed to the Franco-German-Spanish FCAS fighter plane project.

“The Spanish government has no budget to enter into any other jet project in addition to the one that is already in place. We rule out entering the F35 project. Our investment commitment is in the FCAS,” the defence ministry spokeswoman told Reuters.

(Reporting by Graham Keeley, Belén Carreño; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)