Europe is designing its latest generation war hunt, a goal that however risks jumping due to a clash between France and Germany, on who must guide the project
The plan to develop combat jet known as FCAS (Future Combat Air System), is shaking for the growing tensions between the industrial partners involved. In particular, the French Dassault Aviation claims a guide role in the program that also includes Airbus Sa and the Spanish Indra. A position that Airbus Sa (also a German company) disputes, accusing the French house of wanting to alter the balance of the agreed tasks.
The successor of the Eurofighter
The FCAS program is designed as a successor of the Eurofighter, developed by Airbus together with Bae Systems and the Italian Leonardo. Dassault had taken part in the early stages of the Eurofighter in the 1980s, but then retired to build the Rafale alone, which then became the pride of French military aviation.
The new attempt to work together is now creaking, and the concerns have been put black on white by the BDLI, the German lobby of the aerospace, in an internal memo widespread at the beginning of the month.
“Due to the unilateral and non -cooperative claim of a single company, the goal of developing a common European program for a combat hunt is no longer equally accessible to all nations and therefore the project loses its purpose”, says the document of the lobby which represents about 260 companies, from Airbus to Rheinmetall, who operate in the sectors of civil aviation, defense and space, accusing as the wanting to focus on Too much power.
“The desire now clearly expressed by Dassault to be responsible for the system architecture and to have the exclusive design authority for the Next Generation Fighter is no longer compatible, in our opinion, with the idea of cooperation, but rather reflects the spirit of a unilateral thrust of the domain”, attacks the document.
According to the German military blog Hartpunkt, Dassault asked 80 percent of the program’s activities and the French government would support this request. “There are intergovernmental agreements valid among the nations for development, which provide the binding picture for the German government for German participation”, replied a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of Berlin, speaking with Bloomberg.
Clash open at the Paris Motor Show
Tensions reached the peak last month during the Paris Air Show. Michael Schoellhorn, head of Airbus Defense and Space, publicly criticized the French attempt to renegotiate an agreement that, according to him, had been “carefully elaborated” among the various partners.
On the other hand, the CEO of Dassault, Eric Trappier, reaffirmed the claim of a leadership position in the project, leveraging the experience gained with the jet rafale. The CEO then ventilated the hypothesis of a rupture, making it clear that if an acceptable understanding is not found, Dassault could carry on the project independently, just as he did with Rafale, questioning the survival of the infcas.
Franco-German summit
And to solve the diatribe they are ready to enter the pieces of ninety on the pitch. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron will try to quell Batibecco when they meet for high -profile consultations in Berlin at the end of the month. The meeting between the two leaders is scheduled for the week of July 21, before the ministerial interviews between the two governments, but the friction on the Jet Future Combat Air System would go to the top of the agenda.
