& in the long run,both Germany & Spain end up losing access to spares & tech transfer for the Patriot??What good does it do them.Remember,both Spain & Germany still cooperate on numerous projects with the US.
If you read the article,you would have noticed that the groundwork for this deal started in 2002,long before the rift with Germany & when Aznar was still in power.
The black market yields LOTS of weapons systems, including spares. The deal may have started in 2002 but, IMO, this will become another deal that the Pentagon will rue approving (IF, in fact, they did) because our troops will have to face being attacked with more American weapons sometime in the future.
Someday, we can hope to get an administration and Pentagon management that understands that anythime something American leaves our shores, its future and its use is no longer assured. We've seen that too many times.