The news of the death of the project FCAS (Future Combat Air System, the future European fighter) as it was known until now (French, German and Spanish), has been received among Spanish participants with and without uniform, more than with mourning, with a certain relief. Not because in Madrid this outcome was desired, but because it is unblocked and a different path is sought. key plan for the defense of Europe which accumulates too many delays, obstructed by the lack of agreement between the French aeronautics Dassault and the German branch of Airbus.
However, the death certificate is still awaited, since there has not yet been an official statement, only an agency advance to which all those involved who were consulted give credibility. It is actually expected to become official the end of the Franco-Spanish-German alliance these days, when the ILA military aerospace fair is held in Berlin.
Sweden and the experience of Saab’s Gripen fighter jets they stand as the main alternative to collaborate in the manufacture of the airplane. And this is proven not only by the impressions from sources consulted this Monday in the military-industrial ecosystem, but also by recent and significant events. While they hide their The military is in a hurry, aware that Europe has missed the boat on 5th generation stealth fighters –like the North American F35, until now in competition – but it cannot increase the step by arriving late to the sixth.
Contacts in Madrid
The FCAS project and the alliance with France do not end completely: what is finalized is the agreement to manufacture the fightersince France prefers to continue with the national line of Rafales, its exclusive product. But the rest of the collaboration would follow: the NGWSor new generation weapons system for the European fighter, and the combat cloudwhich is the part that matters most to Spain, since it is the one led by the Spanish technology company Indra.
The FCAS could in the future have dTwo different fighters, one collective and another exclusively French, but the same weapons system and the same communications cloud in which to integrate during combat the immense volume of information that a sixth generation fighter must manage: its own sensors and those of various drones, ground detectors, radars, ships, land platforms, troops, satellites…
Since, at the end of last year, the FCAS alliance showed signs of shipwreck, The possibility of Sweden entering the consortium, occupying France’s chair, was considered in the Spanish defense industry.or invite Italian firms. Italy has been practically ruled out: Leonardo has invested too much in the GCAP project with the United Kingdom and Japan to diversify or leave it. But Defense supports the intention of the EU that the project be as European and homogeneous and as little individual as possibleand supports the creation of another European consortium, despite the fact that “Spain and Germany could do the fighter alone,” warns one of the sources consulted.
It doesn’t seem like the path goes that way. On May 12, a group of Spanish businessmen and military personnel went to the residence of the Swedish ambassador to Spain, in the Madrid district of Chamberí, to take part in the Sweden-Spain Defense Forum. The Spanish delegation was headed by senior representatives of Indra, Airbus España, Escribano M&E, Navantia and Integrasys, among other firms. On the Swedish side, Saab, Kongsberg Maritime, Scania Defence y el Nordic Shield Group (NSG)among other aeronautical, electronic, automotive and weapons industries.
That contact that began at 8 in the morning with a breakfast also had institutional participation: on the Swedish side, the Swedish defense delegate, Malin Persson; on the Spanish side, the DIGEID, as the military knows it, that is, the Lieutenant General Miguel Yborrageneral director of Strategy and Innovation of the defense industry in the ministry he directs Margaret Robles.
A day before, the Swedish delegation had maintained B2B contacts (this is what direct interviews between businesses are now called) and the TEDAE employers’ association had shown them an overview of the Spanish defense industry. But, of all the visits, perhaps the most significant was the one held those days by the Swedish businessmen in the Indra production centers in various parts of the Community of Madrid.
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