Starting Tuesday, US military aircraft may no longer refuel in flight in NATO ally Spain’s airspace, Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon announced last week. US officials must also request flight permits in advance and provide more details on US military flights entering, departing, or passing through Spanish airspace, reports RTT News, a global financial newswire. Further, US pilots may not perform visual flights, only instrument flights, in Spanish airspace, reports BNO News (via Wireupdate.com). Chacon said these new rules are meant to improve Spanish control of its airspace. They are part of the revision to the bilateral US-Spain agreement governing military cooperation that Spain requested. The two nations last revised this document in 2003. US military aircraft operate out of Moron and Rota in Spain.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
