A spokesman from the Ministry of Defense insisted that his Ministry has no plans to increase its fleet to 50 aircraft of this type.

So far, Germany has ordered 35 of these U.S.-made fighters to replace a total of 85 of the Tornado type that will be withdrawn from service.

Currently, the Defense Ministry has no plans to acquire more F-35s than those already contractually agreed, the spokesman said.

A military source said the figure of 15 additional F-35 aircraft had been part of previous considerations, but that the numbers needed to be adjusted following new North Atlantic Organization (NATO) targets for armament and troop numbers.

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