Cergy-Pontoise (France) (AFP) – The head of French defence company Dassault said on Tuesday his firm could build the future European fighter jet by itself, as tensions persist with Germany over the multi-billion-euro project. The Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme was launched in 2017 to replace France’s Rafale jet and the Eurofighter planes used by Germany and Spain. But the scheme, jointly developed by the three countries, has stalled as disagreements grow between Dassault and Airbus, which represents German and Spanish interests.
“The answer is yes,” Dassault chief Eric Trappier said when asked by reporters if the company, which makes the Rafale, could build a sixth-generation fighter jet on its own. “I don’t mind if the Germans are complaining. If they want to do it on their own, let them do it on their own,” he said at a factory opening event. Analysts estimate it will cost 100 billion euros ($118 billion) to develop the new jet and its cutting-edge technologies, scheduled to be operational in 2040.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who took power in May, have been at pains to boost the political partnership at the heart of the European Union, at a time when US President Donald Trump has rocked transatlantic ties. Both European leaders have expressed support for the fighter jet project, but tensions between the two aerospace contractors have marred cooperation. In late August, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius urged France to break the impasse over the jet programme, saying “the project cannot tolerate any more delay.”
– ‘From A to Z’ – Trappier said his company was “completely open” to cooperation, including with Germany, but stressed that France could also go it alone. “Here, we know how to do it,” Trappier said at the ceremony in the northwestern town of Cergy-Pontoise. “We know how to do everything from A to Z. We have proven this over the past 70 years. We have the skills.”
France has been vying for a leadership role in the project. “Give us the ability to drive the programme,” said Trappier, 65. “In terms of governance, I will not accept three people sitting around a table deciding on all the technical aspects of flying a high-level aircraft.” He said that “for the moment” a solution with Airbus has not been found, lamenting that his contact at Airbus was a German manager rather than his direct counterpart, CEO Guillaume Faury.
An official from Airbus Defence and Space voiced doubt over Dassault’s participation in the project. “I believe that FCAS will go ahead without Dassault,” Thomas Pretzl, head of the Airbus Defence works council, told the Handelsblatt business newspaper in Germany. “There are more attractive and suitable partners in Europe.”
During a visit to Madrid last week, Merz said Germany and Spain wanted to try to reach a solution on the project by the end of 2025. “The current situation is not satisfactory, we are not making progress on this project,” Merz said. At the weekend, the French defence ministry said France and Germany remained “determined to carry out the FCAS programme in cooperation with Spain.” Representatives of Germany, France, and Spain are to meet in Berlin in October to try to unlock differences over the project, which aims to enhance the continent’s defence autonomy at a time of heightened tensions with Russia.
The countries are under pressure to accelerate their work in the face of competition from a rival project, the Global Combat Air Programme, an initiative led by Britain, Italy, and Japan to develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter by 2035.
© 2024 AFP
