Portugal Will Buy European Fighter Jets Instead of USA F-35 Jets

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Due to the USA’s change in policy regarding NATO, the Portugese Air Force no longer expects to buy F-35 fighter jets from the USA and will turn to European warplanes instead.

F-35 fighter jets are used by Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and United Kingdom. The airplanes are expensive at $82 million apiece, cost $33,000 per hour to fly and cost four times as much to maintain as the older, less capable F-16 jets Portugal has now.

Concern about whether support for USA aircraft will be reliably available has become an important consideration now that the USA routinely subjects allies with abrupt tariffs, demands and threats.

European alternatives include the Dassault Rafale from France, the Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab Gripen E’F and possibly the KAAN which is in development in Turkey. Portugal wants to take delivery of a new model of fighter in the next decade.

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