Spain shelves plans to buy F-35 fighter jets

Spain has shelved plans to purchase F-35 fighter aircraft, Spanish newspaper El País reported today.

Preliminary contacts for the purchase of the fifth-generation American stealth fighters have been suspended "indefinitely" and the government will seek European alternatives like the Eurofighter or the upcoming Future Combat Air System, the paper reported.

"The Spanish option involves the current Eurofighter and the FCAS in the future," the Spanish defense ministry told POLITICO. 

The Spanish navy plans to decommission its Harrier AV8B fighters by 2030 and has expressed interest in replacing them with naval version F-35B models, already purchased by the United States and Italy.

The air force also considered the F-35A model as a temporary solution to replace its McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets while awaiting the FCAS.