Portugal rules out buying F-35s because of Trump

mindlight · Mar 15, 2025

trophy33 said:
I do not know about Eurofighter or Rafale, but about 1/3 of Gripen components (for example engines) are sourced in the USA, so it is still quite dependent on the US politics.

I guess there are other questions woven into this one, like how stealthy is stealth tech? And does the platform matter when it is all about the missile?
If we can see F-35s on some new radar system or if the European airforces develop a better, faster and more precise missile with a longer range then a lot of stuff changes. So also there is the question of command and control integration with the latest satellite intelligence and surveillance. The USAs big advantage is in the overall system and Europe has yet to develop anything comparable to that. The fighter integrate with that system.

Portugal could be right about the pricing, supply change security and performance of the aircraft, but needs to be careful that whatever they get integrates with a NATO infrastructure that is still dominated by America. That is the same for all the countries of Europe including the big military powers of UK and France.

Larniavc · Mar 15, 2025

Merrill said:
Is there some Moorish invasion they are worried about?

What do they need these fighter jets for exactly? lol

Russia. They have a habit of land grabs.

trophy33 · Mar 15, 2025

Larniavc said:
Russia. They have a habit of land grabs.

*Cough*USA. *Cough*Greenland.

Larniavc · Mar 15, 2025

trophy33 said:
*Cough*USA. *Cough*Greenland.

Yeah, I had to re write 'invade' and replace it with 'land grab' because of the good old US of A.

DaisyDay · Mar 15, 2025

Merrill said:
They don't need to buy extremely expensive next-generation fighter jets. Complete waste of money

Portugal isn't going to be any kind of major player in any military conflict going forward

Portuguese Armed Forces - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

DaisyDay · Mar 15, 2025

Laodicean60 said:
Yes, it will. The underlying economy was weak to begin with, and tariffs will accelerate a recession.

By most accounts, the underlying economy had made a full recovery, tempering inflation while avoiding any recession. The tariff trade wars and general governmental instability of the current administration has tanked that.

Laodicean60 said:
The only thing about China's arms is that they haven't been battle tested, and they are currently providing Russia with support equipment.

Not sure why you would say that as I'm pretty sure that Chinese arms are currently being used in conflicts as they are the fourth largest exporter of arms with many conflicts in using their arms including the Russia/Ukraine war (supplying Russia), Gaza, Syria, Sudan, etc.

Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2023

Imports of major arms by states in Europe increased by 94 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while the global volume of international arms transfers decreased marginally, by 3.3 per cent. There were overall decreases in arms transfers to all other regions, but states in Asia and Oceania and...

www.sipri.org

Weapons of Influence: Unpacking China’s Global Arms Strategy

This article explores the strategic motivations behind China’s arms sales and uses Chinese-language analyses from influential party and military institutions to identify five main interests driving Chinese arms exports: protecting economic investments, gaining influence in conflict zones...

press.armywarcollege.edu

MyOwnSockPuppet · Mar 15, 2025

trophy33 said:
I do not know about Eurofighter or Rafale, but about 1/3 of Gripen components (for example engines) are sourced in the USA, so it is still quite dependent on the US politics.

The Volvo Reaktionsmotor 12? Yes, it was developed from the General Electric F404J in the 90s (basically stripped to the parts and made more reliable - kinda important if you're using it in a single-engine aircraft as opposed to the twin-engine aircraft it had been used in up to that point), but it's not made in the US

Eurofighters use engines developed from a Rolls-Royce engine by a consortium (1/3 British, 1/3 German, 1/3 Spanish and Italian).
The Rafale prototype was powered by a pair of US engines because the development of the French-made engines took longer than anticipated, but the actual production run uses French-made engines.

trophy33 · Mar 15, 2025

MyOwnSockPuppet said:
The Volvo Reaktionsmotor 12? Yes, it was developed from the General Electric F404J in the 90s (basically stripped to the parts and made more reliable - kinda important if you're using it in a single-engine aircraft as opposed to the twin-engine aircraft it had been used in up to that point), but it's not made in the US

The JAS 39E and F variants under development are to adopt the F414G powerplant, a variant of the General Electric F414.

Also, other critical parts like life support are outsourced or at least developed/licensed in the USA.

Saab JAS 39 Gripen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

civilwarbuff · Mar 15, 2025

trophy33 said:
No idea. Either what this is supposed to mean or whether it is that.

Is English not your first language? If so, I can overlook your ignorance of an American idiom......

Merrill · Mar 15, 2025

Nithavela said:
You disagree with Trump when he demands that all NATO members beef up their military?

I don't believe in NATO at all

BNR32FAN · Mar 15, 2025

trophy33 said:
The country’s air force has recommended buying the jets, but the outgoing defense minister said “the predictability of our allies” must be taken into account when making procurement decisions.

Portugal wobbles on buying F-35s because of Trump

The country’s defense ministry says that the Lockheed Martin F-35s “were not ruled out.”

www.politico.eu

They shouldn’t be selling our latest technologies to any other countries. The F35 is the latest fighter we have.

Nithavela · Mar 16, 2025

Merrill said:
I don't believe in NATO at all

It exists regardless.

trophy33 · Mar 16, 2025

BNR32FAN said:
They shouldn’t be selling our latest technologies to any other countries. The F35 is the latest fighter we have.

F22 is not for export, because it has some advanced technology the USA do not want to share even with allies.

F35 is for export, because it has the top technologies, but nothing really secret. Allies (like Europe) would be able to develop and produce them too, if they needed (which may be the case now).

trophy33 · Mar 16, 2025

civilwarbuff said:
Is English not your first language? If so, I can overlook your ignorance of an American idiom......

Yes, English is not my first language.

timewerx · Mar 16, 2025

Laodicean60 said:
This is ok because we need to reduce the size of our military industrial complexes.

That's not good at all.

Giving lots of people the boot always comes before an economic recession / depression.

Less people working means less people able to buy things. Less income for businesses and further increasing layoffs, compounding the problems.

Boosting welfare may prevent the economy from collapsing . However, I think the new admin have different plans for USA. Turn USA into an Apartheid State - the rich vs those who aren't.

civilwarbuff · Mar 16, 2025

trophy33 said:
Yes, English is not my first language.

I will keep that in mind.....I use a lot of old sayings and idioms in my posts......

Portugal rules out buying F-35s because of Trump

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