With the trilateral FCAS (Future Combat Air System) sixth-generation fighter program scrapped, Lockheed Martin and US lawmakers are once again pitching the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter to Spain, a country that has repeatedly shown interest in the jet over the past years, only to back out in the end.
A bipartisan delegation from the US House of Representatives, comprising Republican lawmakers Nathaniel Moran and Craig Goldman, and Democrats Jim Costa and Brendan Boyle, arrived in Spain this week to discuss a host of bilateral issues, as reported by Spanish media outlet Indodefensa on June 25.
During their meeting with the Defense Commission of the Congress of Deputies, the American delegation pushed the sale of the Lockheed Martin F-35 to Spain, the report stated, adding that the lawmakers made their case by emphasizing that several other NATO states have already purchased the coveted stealth fighter.
Notably, the visit comes amid sustained tensions between Spain and the US, especially since Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denied US forces access to the country’s military bases to launch strikes on Iran in March 2026—a move that infuriated US President Donald Trump, who had already been fuming over Spain’s refusal to increase defense spending to 5% of its GDP.
Spain shelved plans to purchase the F-35 in August 2025, prioritizing defense spending in Europe, effectively making it impossible to buy the American stealth aircraft, as the EurAsian Times had reported at the time. Therefore, American politicians are likely trying to persuade Madrid to reverse its decision.
The delegation may be counting on Madrid’s repeated attempts to revive and abandon plans to buy F-35s.
In 2021, for example, Spain was reportedly considering purchasing 50 F-35s, of which 25 were F-35A variants for the Spanish Air Force to replace its Boeing F/A-18 Hornets and 25 were F-35B variants for the Spanish Navy to replace its AV-8B Harrier II aircraft. However, it backtracked in November 2023, announcing that it had no plans to buy the F-35 and would rather focus on Eurofighter Typhoons.
In 2024, reports surfaced that Spain was considering proceeding with the F-35 purchase, suggesting the country was looking to urgently replace its aging Hornets. However, Spain flipped and officially ended the F-35 quest last year.
The report highlighted that the four US lawmakers who visited Spain are among the politicians who have received donations from Lockheed Martin and have close links with the defense giant, as well as interests tied to aircraft production in their states. Thus, subtly hinting that these lawmakers may be part of the Lockheed lobby, which has been rather eager to secure new orders.
However, these claims could not be independently verified by the EurAsian Times.
The report also noted that Jonathan Linn, the senior manager for Business Development for South, Central, and East Europe at Lockheed Martin, had visited Spain in November 2025 as part of the company’s global supply chain program. “The fact that the Spanish government has stated that the F-35 is not currently under consideration does not mean that our involvement ceases,” he had told the publication at the time.
In fact, he specifically acknowledged that Lockheed remained very interested in selling the fifth-generation aircraft to Madrid.
Months later, the company seems to have found the perfect moment to revive the F-35 pitch, especially since the FCAS program, which was being jointly pursued by France, Germany, and Spain, collapsed amid irreconcilable differences between Airbus (representing Germany and Spain) and Dassault Aviation (representing France) over issues ranging from work-sharing to design philosophy and supplier selection.
F-35 On Offer Again After FCAS Collapse
With the official end of the FCAS effort, Madrid is now left with no prospects of acquiring a sixth-generation fighter in the long term, a vulnerability that the delegation may be looking to exploit, as hinted by the report.
Maintaining that it is perfectly capable of developing a next-generation fighter on its own, France has vowed to keep working on it through 2040. “Eight years of commitment, 2.5 billion in investment,” the French Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin said in the parliament, referring to the joint German-French jet project. “It means that almost all of this investment will enable us to continue working on a fighter jet through to 2040.”
Meanwhile, Airbus has already formed an alliance of defense companies called “Team Gen 6” and submitted a position paper on a sixth-generation fighter jet project to the German government. The coalition states that it does not seek to launch a new fighter project, but experts believe it may be looking to do exactly that or to partner with potential collaborators, specifically the Swedish defense and aerospace giant Saab.
Not just that, Germany is already acquiring the Tranche 4 and Tranche 5 variants of the Eurofighter Typhoon, whereas France is developing the Rafale F5 as an interim solution until a sixth-generation fighter is ready. You can read a detailed EurAsian Times report on how the two countries are bolstering their air power in the absence of FCAS here.
This means that the FCAS collapse may have hit Spain the hardest, particularly since it already said no to the F-35 a few months ago.
Nonetheless, it is worth mentioning that the Spanish government is reportedly considering purchasing Turkey’s KAAN, a fifth-generation stealth fighter that Ankara started developing after being expelled from the F-35 consortium. In fact, the Trump administration has reportedly approved the sale of GE F110 engines for KAAN, helping Ankara cross a major hurdle in fielding the jet by the end of this decade.
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) disclosed in May 2026 that preliminary government-to-government discussions were underway with Spain for the potential sale of the KAAN. The talks were believed to be at a nascent stage and involved both technical and political channels, Demiroğlu reportedly emphasized, hinting that the potential sale for the aircraft will take place through the government-to-government route.
Spanish officials see such a purchase as a temporary fix to “buy time” until another European next-generation platform is ready, according to an earlier report from the Spanish business newspaper El Economista.
It is rather amusing that Spain has been eyeing the Turkish KAAN over the American F-35, even though the latter is sought by Turkey itself and is operated by a host of other NATO countries, offering better operational advantages and enhancing interoperability.
Some experts believe that Spain’s decision is driven by the need to turn towards European systems and reduce reliance on the US amid growing fractures in the transatlantic relationship, and the risks and uncertainty associated with purchasing American equipment under Trump’s leadership.
Many believe that the US President could weaponize their purchase of F-35s in a potential disagreement or diplomatic unrest, and probably withhold the spares or software upgrades needed to keep the aircraft flying.
Whether Spain will prioritize its growing defense ties with Turkey and choose the KAAN over the F-35 is unclear.
However, Lockheed’s enhanced lobbying appears to be an attempt to reverse the F-35’s fortunes amid mounting losses.
Several existing F-35 buyers have slashed their purchases, and prospective buyers have reneged on their commitments to buy the aircraft since Trump became President due to unilateral tariffs, his waning commitment to NATO, and the US President’s unreliability as a steadfast defense partner. For example, Canada earlier put its F-35 purchase on hold amid tensions with the US, and Portugal abandoned plans to buy the aircraft, citing the Trump administration’s unpredictability. Meanwhile, the Swiss government cut back its original purchase of 36 F-35A jets, citing high costs.
India, on the other hand, did not show any real interest in the aircraft that was offered verbally by US President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.
To add insult to injury, Lockheed also lost the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) contract to Boeing.
In April 2025, Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Jim Taiclet claimed that the company could integrate 80% of sixth-generation NGAD technology into its fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II, which is already in production at half the cost, and create what he called the “fifth-generation plus” variant of the F-35. But nothing really has come out of it yet.
Against that backdrop, targeted lobbying by the F-35 manufacturer to secure Spain’s purchase of the jets would make perfect sense.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
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