Spain strengthens its relationship with the American arms giant Lockheed Martin coinciding with the most ambitious defense investment in history. The Government has decided to give priority to the acquisition of war material ‘made in the USA’, a decision embodied this week in the approval of an important million-dollar contract in the last Council of Ministers.
It is not the first engagement nor will it be the last. Pedro Sánchez visits Joe Biden at the White House on the 12th with several points on the agenda, including the military horizon. In the national military industry, this bet has caused surprise. Lockheed Martin is the largest contractor for the US Army. Combat fighters, helicopters, missiles, radars…
Few companies in the world have such a wide catalog of defensive and offensive material. With Spain, where the multinational has a sales office, the relationship has been historic and has just been strengthened. The Ministry of Defense authorized the first major contract for the new Defense special programs on April 25, which went to the Maryland-based giant. Some 820.5 million to acquire eight MH-60R multipurpose helicopters, known as “Romeo” in military jargon. “These new devices -explains the Government- will replace the fleet of SH-60B helicopters [also from Lockheed Martin] and will allow the Navy to meet its needs and update and enhance its capabilities.”
“The acquisition of this weapons system also entails the supply of different equipment associated with it and initial logistical support,” adds the Executive. Strategic operation, in short. The national military industry views this first economic movement with some resentment. They understand that the announcement is made at a key political moment, Sánchez’s visit to Washington at the beginning of the electoral campaign, but they miss a similar support for technology made in Spain and that generates jobs in Europe.
“We would like to collaborate with the United States in the Romeo and in other projects, of course,” admits a large national company. They demand, therefore, to speed up large contracts with companies such as Airbus or Indra. The Ministry of Defense and the Lockheed Martin company were contacted but did not respond to a request for information about their business relationships. Spain’s commitment to Lockheed Martin does not end with the Romeo helicopters. The Government contemplated in the Budgets in force an expense of 145 million to buy new Patriot missiles, one of the star products of the American giant.
Spain currently has a battery of these missiles deployed in Türkiye. In addition, Defense, through the Navy, has to make another big decision in the coming months that would affect Lockheed Martin. It is the renewal of the current Harrier, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that are already obsolete. The program, endowed with 6,250 million, has not yet been awarded, but it does have a great favorite: the F-35 of the American brand, which is the only aircraft on the market capable of operating vertically in military ships.
This fifth-generation fighter-bomber that can reach 2,000 kilometers per hour is, according to industry sources, the best positioned to win this important military contract. Sánchez will appear at the White House before Biden with these economic and military credentials under his arm. Since the motion of no confidence, the ties with Washington have never been so intense and this is the result of an evolution on the part of the Spanish government. Moncloa is now firmly committed to the military commitment, in a war scenario in Ukraine, but in 2019, with Donald Trump in power, Sánchez himself made the decision to withdraw the Méndez Núñez frigate from the United States-led combat group . That was considered a grievance in Washington. The expansion of the Rota and Morón bases has also come with the coalition government.