The troubled future of Europe’s next-generation fighter jet has come under further pressure after the German Defence Minister urged France to put aside “national interests” to move the project ahead.
Boris Pistorius’s comments, on the day the leaders of France and Germany met for the start of a two-day summit, will focus minds on resolving the differences over the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) fighter.
The project has been stalled by tension between the main industrial partners, France's Dassault and Airbus, which represents German and Spanish interests.
Speaking in Berlin, Mr Pistorius said “national interests will have to be put to one side” to move forward, and a meeting in the German capital in October will analyse how “to identify the traps and how to remove them”. Hinting at France’s actions, he said that “agreements are made to be respected”.
Aircraft industry insiders have told The National “the door is open” for the Germans to join another, British-led project to build the Tempest Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
The dispute, allegedly over French insistence on controlling 80 per cent of the workshare, also undermines hopes for greater European unity and cohesion over defence in light of the Russian threat and potential US withdrawal from Nato.
But it is hoped today's summit between French President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Friedrich Merz in France will smooth out the troubles over Europe’s largest defence project.
Undermined
The European team hopes to build a sixth-generation warplane to replace France’s Rafale fighter, made by French company Dassault Aviation, and the Eurofighters owned by Germany and Spain. The $118 billion FCAS project has been plagued by delays and infighting over workloads and intellectual property rights.
It has already been undermined by a German Defence Ministry document, seen by Reuters, that alleges French industry leaders are demanding leadership of the project.
It warns of severe consequences for the capabilities of the planned fighter jet and the participation of German companies if concessions are granted to French industry.
The French have cited FCAS as a key pillar in the nation's nuclear deterrent policy because the jet will be capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Paris also believes it can use Berlin’s money for the project but the “Germans quite rightly see right through this and are not allowing it to happen”, a European defence industry source told The National.
Mr Pistorius also warned that “the project cannot tolerate any more delay”.
Concerns over Dassault’s commitment to the project were raised last month when its chief executive Eric Trappier was asked if the company could leave the programme.
“It's not a problem to leave, it's a problem to know whether it [the project] continues or not,” he said. “The question arises about the effectiveness of the project, which involves three countries.”
‘Temporary difficulties’
German withdrawal from FCAS would strike a significant blow to relations between the two major continental powers. Therefore, when the two leaders sit down to dinner at the French President’s Bregancon residence on the Mediterranean coast, the “temporary difficulties must be addressed”, said a French government source.
There was “a very strong desire” and “optimism” that the differences can be resolved, the source said. Dassault “manufactures excellent European aircraft”, they added.
“We shouldn't be ashamed of the fact that Dassault can sell its equipment to the whole of Europe,” they said. “That's the challenge of these discussions that are currently being conducted.”
But the disputes are hindering FCAS progress, with a deadline of 2029 set for a “pre-prototype” to fly and operations scheduled for 2040.
Tempest
The Tempest project, also known as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) is ahead in its development, with the prototype due to fly in two years and fighter jet to be up and running in 2035.
The consortium, made up of BAE Systems in Britain, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry in Japan and Italy’s Leonardo, has consistently held an “open door” to other countries to join.
France has previously been involved in a number of other European projects in their initial stages – including the Eurofighter and, very briefly, the Tornado programme – but has broken away to build its own fighter in a heavily state-funded industry that includes Dassault’s well-regarded Rafale fighter.
A UK industry source suggested the French aren't as good at strategic collaborations as other countries.
“The French typically want to have the responsibility for the workshare that they want,” they added.
Three-way split
GCAP project leaders have said “we genuinely do everything through strategic international collaboration”, which has led to global interest, in particular from Saudi Arabia.
However, the worry for Germany is that the GCAP partners will soon be signing a trilateral agreement and if Berlin does not get on-board early enough it could miss out on production and the potential export market.
There is even speculation that a split in FCAS could lead to Germany joining Sweden in manufacturing a replacement for its successful Gripen fighter, although insiders lament that this would come at a time when European defence unity is badly needed.
“Europe, in terms of fighter competitions, needs to have one programme that it then pitches on to the world stage, not three separate sixth-generation combat programmes which effectively kill each other off in the international marketplace for exports,” the European defence insider said.
