The Popular Party requested the appearance of Minister Margarita Robles in the House of Representatives Defense Committee after ABC reported on Tuesday that her ministry had contracted with Türkiye headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to manufacture… … 45 new training aircraft for Spanish fighter and attack pilots, which will replace existing – and already obsolete – F5 and T-38 aircraft worth more than 3,000 million euros (3,120 to be exact). It did so, as this newspaper reported, by hand, that is, a prize without competition.
Alberto Nunez Viejo’s members in the House of Representatives, led by Esther Muñoz, believe that Robles must provide explanations for the purchase of these new aircraft after the meeting held on June 27 between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the Turkish leader. On the same Tuesday that it was revealed that the purchase of nearly fifty Turkish Hürjet aircraft, designed by the Turkish Public Defense Aerospace Industries Corporation and currently in the development stage – that is, not even manufactured – the popular aircraft also scored a battery of eight questions about what they consider to be the central executive’s “last finger maneuver”.
“We will ask many questions about this issue and the executive will have to answer them in this Parliament,” warned the People’s Party spokesman in Congress. no sooner said than done. The party submitted an initiative to the government to respond in writing about the reasons for this acquisition, as it believes that more than 3,000 million euros “does not seem like an insignificant amount of money that should not pass through Parliament.”
“What criteria did the government use to choose to purchase training aircraft from Türkiye? Was this acquisition made without a public tender? If so, by what criteria?” Ask the popular figures, who are also demanding to know whether the purchase of the 45 Hurjet aircraft “responds to any operational need indicated by the Army Air and Space Army or the Chief of the Defense Staff (JEMAD).”
In this sense, the PP also aspires to know the reasons why “the usual selection procedures that correspond to a process of this kind” were not followed in the Ministry of Defense under Robles, such as a public display or competition of aircraft models. “Does the Ministry know that only two of the four prototypes required by the contract have been delivered at this stage and that Türkiye should have taken effect?” Those from Feijóo also ask after this newspaper also reported that Ankara has not yet started manufacturing the aircraft and that there are currently only two aircraft in active operation, one of which landed last year at Torrejón Air Base for evaluation.
The popular people denounce Moncloa’s acquisition of 45 Hurjet aircraft “unilaterally” after the June meeting between Sanchez and Erdogan
Moreover, the first machines intended for its first customer, the Turkish Air Force, have not yet been supplied, which are scheduled for delivery in 2026. For this same reason, those from Feijóo wonder whether the government considers the winning company, Turkish Aerospace Industries, “to be in a position to supply Spain with the 45 training aircraft it has committed to”.
Finally, the People’s Party wants to know: “What is the reason for the increase in the cost of the project, which initially had a budget of 1.375 million euros and that the contractor has already raised this cost to 3.120 million?”
Thus, in the letter, seen by ABC, the People’s Party denounces that this decision was taken “unilaterally” by the Ministry of Defense headed by Robles, “without having previously had any formal request for proposals from potential competitors, as well as any competitive process or technical or economic comparison with other alternatives. They add, in short, that this is a “non-public” agreement between Sánchez and Erdogan.
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