He is a 100 billion euro program which was announced by France and Germany in 2017, and joined by Spain in 2019. The objective is build the European fighter plane of the futureplus a swarm of drones and a cloud of combat communications.
However, the project of that new which should enter service around 2040 is in its lowest hours due to a disagreement between France and Germany.
This same week, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has announced that the ambitious military program is no longer beneficial to the interests of his country (a striking individualistic approach when Spain is being asked to increase military spending for the benefit of NATO as a whole).
Merz has assured that the reasons are technical, since France needs a fighter plane that can carry nuclear weapons and take off from aircraft carriers, some demands that are not compatible with German needs.
Dispute between companies
However, from the British media they point more to a matter of egossince the French and German companies calls to participate in the development of the fighter “they have not been able to agree on who is in charge.”
In that sense, French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation wants to lead the part of the FCAS related to the fighter aircraft. However, Airbus’ defense division based in Germany opposes this.
In this regard, the executive director of Dassault Aviation, Éric Trappierstressed at the inauguration of a factory last year that his company is the one that must direct the creation of the new fighter. “If they (the Germans) want to do it on their own, let them do it”said Trappier, adding that “We know how to do everything, from A to Z.”
