Spain to increase defense budget by more than 80% over the next 6 years.

According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais , on Wednesday, December 27, 2017, Spain will increase its military spending by more than 80 percent over the next six years. Spain has spent 0.92% for its defense budget in 2017, one of the lowest spending in the alliance, alongside Belgium and Luxembourg.

Spanish Army Soldiers, assigned to the Stabilization Force (SFOR) bring their BMR-600 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV), into place during a riot control exercise conducted at Camp Butmir, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), during Exercise JOINT RESOLVE 26. (Picture source Wikipedia)

In the next few years, Spain will spend 18 billion euros for its defense budget, accounting for between 1.5 and 1.6 percent of its GDP, El Pais newspaper reported. An increase of 80% of the current defense spending of the Spanish government.

The U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that NATO partners who are not meeting the minimum percentage agreed to within the Atlantic Alliance must increase their defence spending.

The US, UK, Greece, Estonia and Poland are at or above the two per cent mark, while Mattis recently said that he hopes that four other countries will join that group within a year.

In April 2017, it was announced that Spain will acquire 348 Piranha 5 8x8 wheeled armored vehicles from the Company General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) for a total budget of €3.8 billion to replace the obsolete 6x6 wheeled Pegaso BMR after 40 years of service.