Spain has canceled a third weapons contract with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, this time for the Litening 5 targeting and navigation pods for 46 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, Globes has reported.
Despite the report, The Jerusalem Post has learned that Madrid is still paying Rafael for the missile orders. The contract was signed in March 2024 and was worth €207m. Such contracts are difficult to cancel.
Litening 5 is a fifth-generation targeting system already operational with 28 air forces worldwide and “with more than 2,000 units delivered and over 2.2 million operational flight hours – primarily during contingency operations – it has become one of the most widely used targeting pods in service today,” Rafael says.
The pod’s sensor suite includes mid-wave and short-wave infrared, high-resolution color imaging, and dual-wavelength laser designation, with an optional synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for wide-area, all-weather imaging. This enables long-range detection, recognition, and identification of targets under varied atmospheric conditions.
Litening 5 supports both air-to-ground and air-to-air missions, including ground moving target indication, multi-target tracking, and automatic target recognition. For air-to-air operations, it enhances target identification at range, supports detection of low-RCS threats, and provides missile cueing when integrated with the host platform.
It also offers capabilities for detecting and engaging unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), supporting operational flexibility against diverse threats.
Third time’s the charm?
The contract is the third arms deal that Spain has canceled after Madrid approved a total arms embargo on Israel, which forbids the European country from exporting any defense material or dual-use products or technologies to Israel and the import of any arms to Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called the war in Gaza a “genocide” and has called for a ban on anyone who has participated directly in the war from entering the country.
Madrid has already canceled several weapons contracts, including a $325m. contract for 168 Spike LR2 anti-tank missile launchers and 1,680 missiles from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It also canceled a $7.5m. order for bullets from Israel’s IMI Systems for its Civil Guard police force, and less than two weeks ago, canceled the procurement of Elbit Systems’s PULS artillery system, a deal worth €700m.
Nevertheless, according to a report by EuropaPress, Defense Ministry sources admitted in May that a full break from Israeli military technology or an arms embargo would be “complicated” and “difficult” to implement since much of Spain’s cybersecurity and artificial intelligence technology is Israeli.
Despite the embargo, official trade data indicate that Spain continues to buy weapons from Israel, reaching €7m. in 2024 and €10.2m. in 2025. Over the past year, Spain imported €6.8m. worth of bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles, and similar munitions. Another €3.4m. worth of war weaponry and ammunition were also imported.