France and Germany Abandon FCAS Fighter Jet Project After Dassault-Airbus Disagreements

France and Germany announced they were abandoning a joint fighter jet programme, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), after disagreements between France's Dassault Aviation and Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain.

“BERLIN — The leaders of France and Germany have agreed to scrap a landmark project to develop and build a new-generation fighter jet, two German officials said on Monday, ending one of Europe’s most ambitious defense programs”

Defense News

A German government official told AFP that Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron had "reached the shared assessment that the companies will not be able to come together on building a joint combat aircraft."

Defense News

The FCAS programme was launched in 2017 to replace France's Rafale jets and the Eurofighter planes used by Germany and Spain by about 2040, and it was described as a key test of European efforts to work more closely on defence.

France 24 reported the decision came as a blow to European efforts to boost defence cooperation in the face of increasing Russian hostilities and souring ties with the United States.

The Guardian said the abandonment was a blow to Europe’s common defence efforts, with officials in Berlin saying the companies involved would not be able to reach an agreement.

While the fighter-jet component was dropped, France 24 quoted a German government official saying "The actual core of FCAS is to be continued as a European system," describing it as a "nervous system that networks aircraft, drones and other components into an integrated whole".

The Guardian likewise said European sources told Reuters it was possible the development of the latter two elements could continue, and it added that a German government source told AFP: "The actual core of FCAS is to be continued as a European system".

El Mundo

POLITICO reported that a German government official told the outlet that "Federal Chancellor Merz has therefore advised President Macron not to pursue the development of a joint fighter jet any further," and it said the Elysée acknowledged Airbus Defence and Space and Dassault Aviation did not manage to agree.

Defense News said Merz and Macron discussed the troubled project on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Montenegro last week and concluded there was no prospect of breaking months of deadlock.

The Guardian also noted that the programme included the jet fighter at the heart of the disagreement, but also drones and a high-security combat data cloud.

France 24 said the French and German defence ministries are set to draw up a plan for defence cooperation "focused on a few realistic and relevant projects" at a forthcoming meeting, after Macron and Merz held "lengthy and frequent discussions" on ways to advance FCAS.

“Blow to EU defence cooperation as France, Germany abandon joint fighter jet programme France and Germany on Monday announced they were abandoning a joint fighter jet programme due to disagreements between France's Dassault Aviation and Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain”

France 24

The Guardian reported that with French elections scheduled for next year, Paris was understood to see some form of positive outcome from one of the outgoing president’s landmark projects as important.

Defense News said the failure to reach an agreement on the €100-billion ($116 billion) project underscored the struggles Europe has faced in rebuilding its military capacity after decades of underinvestment.

El Mundo framed the political conclusion as arriving via German government sources cited by Reuters, quoting that "The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the French President Emmanuel Macron have concluded that the companies involved in building a joint combat aircraft are unable to reach an agreement."

El Mundo added that the rupture would have a broader scope than a single aircraft because FCAS was described as an ecosystem of a next-generation fighter, accompanying drones, ultra-secure communications systems, and a combat cloud capable of connecting sensors, aircraft, and command centers in real time.