New US Ambassador Wants Portugal to Buy F-35s
The new ambassador in Lisbon wants to see more defense spending and advocates for the purchase of F-35s to replace the F-16s. Each aircraft has a base price of over $80 million.
He hasn't arrived in Lisbon yet, but John Arrigo already has an ambitious set of terms for his mandate in Portugal. The new ambassador of the United States of America (USA) prioritizes increasing Portugal's defense spending. And how can he achieve this? By purchasing fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets from the USA.
"For decades, [Portugal] has been at the bottom of the table in terms of defense spending. My job is to discuss military modernization. The F-16 fleet is aging. The F-35 program would be one of my top priorities. It would put [the country] at the top, on track to achieve 5%" of military spending as a percentage of GDP, argued John Arrigo during his Senate nomination hearing last week in Washington.
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