The decision has not changed in Defense: it will not ask Indra to stop the creation of a combat cloud for sixth generation fightersalthough there is no agreement to manufacture the FCAS, or European Future Air Combat System. The interconnection between fighters, ground platforms, ships, drones, radars and satellites is a key asset in the technological autonomy strategy of Defense, and “there are no plans to resign,” explains a ministerial executive.
He says this when this newspaper reminds him of the commitment, now in the air, to invest in 2027 for development of the fighter of the future of 8 billion euros between the three project partners (France, Spain and Germany); Spain had already committed 700 million.
“What has been canceled is the fighter, not the cloud,” they say at the Spanish technology firm, where at the moment there is no change in plans. The combat cloud is the most salvageable thing from the wreckage of the FCAS. And how Nimbus, a proprietary solution that Indra develops a is designed system agnostic: not tied to a single aircraft. It can be operated by a French fighter or a Spanish-German-Swedish fighter, or a land vehicle…
The promise of common defense that Europe sold to the world is now a story of failure. Germany –promoted by its powerful metallurgical union IG Metal— y France –pushed by the interests of the Dassault family— have not been able to agree who would play the main part of the future fighter. In Madrid, the soldiers put their hands on their heads. “At this rate, we’re going to have to look for a plane in Temu”an Air Force general joked this Tuesday while speaking with EL PERIÓDICO.
lost generation
The alliance to manufacture the plane falls out of the FCAS project, but not the rest. A court of added projects is in suspense. The main one, the multidomain combat cloud that that plane was going to operate, which is the Spanish contribution. Besides, new generation weapons (NGWS) and a plethora of reconnaissance and attack drones that were going to serve the fighter.
Combat cloud connectivity while maintaining stealth is what defines the sixth generation of warplanes. The fifth generation, the train that Europe missed, is that of airplanes capable of outwitting the radar.
February 2019. The Defense Ministers of France, Florence Parly, and Spain, Margarita Robles, and the then German Defense Minister, Úrsula von der Leyen, stage the FCAS alliance. They were other times. / RUBEN SOMONTE – EFE
When France swirls its plans around Dassault and its fighter Rafaley Germany plans to manufacture its own fighter with German technological allies, as revealed by the Financial Times, The Defense source estimates that “perhaps in the end there will be two or more European aircraft,” he bets. The Air General clarifies: “The program FCAS was based on economies of scale. That there are two projects in the FCAS does not seem reasonable. Plus, they will compete with each other.”
Robles Complaint
After the FCAS fell before flying there are years of work that no one wants to waste. Robles believes that “Europe will have to rethink what it is going to do”. And, in this debate, Spain will continue to support a joint solution and invite third countries to the alliance.
There have been contacts with Sweden and its Saab aeronautical company, manufacturer of the Gripen fighter. But combining the engineering culture of the Swedish Gripen with that of the FCAS that Airbus has in mind is not easy. “Some write in runes, and others in Latin,” an analyst from the Institute for Strategic Studies with a Defense position tries to explain, and concludes: “Europe will have to speak the same language if it wants to defend itself.”
The Europe of common defense regresses to that of the nation-industry. “It is not worth talking about investing more in defense Europe if, When the time comes, in large programs that are necessary, something fails,” has regretted Margaret Robles. There are no palliatives left in the Government’s argumentative cupboard on the FCAS. On Tuesday, in the corridors of the Senate, the Minister of Defense spoke of “bad news, very worrying for Europe and its strategic autonomy (…) “Industry interests have been put before Europe’s security interests.”.
Defense has tried to mediate in the alliance in which Spain was (is) the third leg. “The FCAS was a large project of three important countries, France, Germany and Spain, and therefore It is a failure; It’s a failure without a doubt.”Robles lamented.
A Turkish Kaan fifth-generation fighter / TAIS
The news has emerged – advanced by Infodefensa— of Spanish contacts with Türkiye to acquire fifth generation Kaan fighters while the European sixth class fighter arrives. But the Turkish plane does not have vertical takeoff, “and can retiring the Harriers from the aircraft carrier Juan Carlos I is the greatest urgency that the Navy now has; run faster than replace the F-18who in July will celebrate 40 years of service in the Air Force,” recalls the IEEE analyst.
Loss of deterrence
Spain needs new fighters, but also Germany –with too many fighters Tornado designed in the 70s–, and Portugal –with its F-16s at the limit of operational life–, Belgium –to which deliveries of American fighters have been delayed–, Finland –with veteran F-18s like those of Spain–, and Austriawhich still flies the oldest version of the Eurofighter.
Europe is not communicating its desire for united defense outside its walls, “it’s just that “needs new planes as soon as possible”says the executive. AND Europe cannot have rearmament or credible deterrence Yes, it is based on new frigates, submarines, tanks and missiles… but not on modern fighters. All the recent wars (Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, Iran…) prove the supremacy of air power.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte with an F-35 fighter and its pilot in Dayton (USA). / NATO Archives
The solution proposed for Europe by the NATO Secretary General Mark Ruttein 2025 it was buy hundreds of F-35s from the North American Lockheed Martin. This stealth fighter is an option for nine EU countries (Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Greece and the Czech Republic) and three non-EU countries (United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway), and it is not an option for the others because The use of the F-35 can be prevented by the White House. That is not autonomy.
In 2025, Lokheed managed to deliver 190 fighters, a production record, but it must prioritize delivery of another 296 to the US Air Force. Getting in line today would mean not receiving the first plane until 2040.
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