THE SPANISH Government has frozen the defence ministry's budget for 1997 at this year's Ptas870 billion ($7 billion) level, effectively cutting spending in real terms by 2.6%.
State-owned aircraft manufacturer CASA, however, has secured Ptas22 billion for the final development phase of the Eurofighter EF2000, in addition to a Ptas25 billion interest-free loan from the industry ministry, to cover the aircraft's pre-production costs.
The Government has earmarked Ptas254 billion for new military projects in 1997, in line with this year's total.
Source: Flight International