Germany, France and Spain to relaunch next-gen fighter jet program
Photo: Germany, France, and Spain will resume development of the fighter jet of the future (Getty Images)
The defense ministers of Germany, France, and Spain will meet in October to discuss options for reviving the joint FCAS program to develop a fighter jet of the future, Reuters reports.
The German Ministry of Defense stated that members of the government must examine all the complexities of the joint project and develop ways to resolve them.
"We will all pull together, and national interests will need to be put aside by one or the other or all of us. It is clear we are damned to succeed, we need this project," said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on the sidelines of a meeting with his Spanish counterpart.
Berlin accuses French industry of blocking the next stage of the FCAS program, which is estimated to cost more than €100 billion.
At the same time, Berlin and Paris disagree on the composition of the consortium. France has told Germany that it wants to receive about an 80% share in the FCAS project.
According to sources in the Defense Ministry, these differences could jeopardize the launch of the second phase, namely the development of flight-ready demonstration models, which was planned for the end of this year.
Earlier this month, Spain announced that it was no longer considering the purchase of American-made F-35 fighter jets and would choose between the Eurofighter and FCAS as it reorients its defense spending toward the purchase of European-made equipment.
FCAS
FCAS is an innovative European combat system being developed by Dassault Aviation, Airbus, and Indra Sistemas. FCAS components will include remotely piloted vehicles and a new-generation fighter jet that may replace the French Rafale and German Typhoon.
The test flight of the demonstration model is expected to take place in approximately 2027, with commissioning scheduled for the following 10 years. According to Airbus, the first test flight of the FCAS fighter jet, together with a swarm of drones, is planned for 2028 or 2029.
