"But does Portugal need to have the best plane available or can it have the second best, along with a set of other benefits in terms of Defense and European integration versus a situation where we create a dependency on an ally whose future path is very uncertain?" Former Defense Minister João Gomes Cravinho warns that it would be "a serious mistake" for Portugal to buy F-35 fighters from the United States, considering that this option implies "creating a dependency on an ally whose future path is very uncertain." (translated)