A small cell of the highest confidence of the Spanish's Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, has already finalised negotiations with the US Department of Defence and the Lockheed Martin industrial corporation for the purchase of the F-35.
With the express prior authorisation of the Prime Minister, the small Spanish team has sought counterparts with the US military-technical delegation and "have already agreed on the general outlines of the transaction," say sources familiar with the details. The Spanish Air Force needs to replace its more than 50 modernised F-18 fighters from the 12th Wing (Torrejón) and 15th Wing (Zaragoza) over the next decade. And the Navy needs to start replacing by 2029 its dozen veteran AV-8B Harrier II Plus that make up the 9th Squadron of its Aircraft Flotilla.
The start of the formal F-35 procurement process will be formalised in the coming months. A government-to-government agreement through the FMS (Foreign Military Sales) system is the mechanism by which Washington's defence department facilitates the sale of weapons systems, equipment, services and training to allied or friendly powers.
The total number of aircraft in Spanish demand is kept under lock and key. The aim is to obtain an initial batch of at least twenty F-35A aircraft for the Air Force and another dozen in F-35B vertical take-off configuration to renew the L-61 Juan Carlos I aircraft carrier's air projection potential. Once the contract is signed, the Spanish requests will enter the production line of the F-35 factory that Lockheed Martin has in Fort Worth, Texas, where thousands of orders are accumulating, making it practically impossible for the first units to arrive in Spain before 2030.
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