Airbus Defence and Space 2022Germany has pulled the plug on a joint fighter jet programme with France, in a blow to European defence co-operation.
The flagship project had been billed as an ambitious and unparalleled military partnership. Instead, it became a glaring example of discord between the two nations.
The decision undermines efforts to show that Europe can act strategically and with common purpose.
It also comes at a time of fraying ties with the US, and continued Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The project was “conceived in a different world”, said Christoph Bergs – an air power analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).
The jet was a key part of the wider Future Combat Air System (FCAS) scheme. It was a plan hatched in 2017 by then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and a freshly elected French President, Emmanuel Macron.
Back then, it was a way of “resetting” Franco-German relations and pooling what were, at the time, more “limited” financial resources in terms of defence expenditure, Bergs explained.
“This is a revolution,” declared Macron at the time. “But we’re not afraid of revolutions when they are peaceful, well-thought and meant to last.”
He has long championed the idea that Europe must pull together in areas like defence, to make itself less dependent on partners who may prove unreliable.
There are multiple pillars within FCAS including engines, sensors and a digital intelligence network known as “combat cloud”.
But the jet always took centre stage.
AFP via Getty ImagesGerman officials claim “core” aspects of the project – outside of the fighter plane – will continue, but it isn’t exactly clear what that means.
What is known is that disagreements emerged, over time, between the main industry players, France’s Dassault Aviation and European aerospace firm Airbus – which represented Germany and Spain, who joined the project later.
There were disputes about control of the scheme and how the work would be divided up.
In France, Dassault was seen as the prime contractor, but prominent German defence analyst Nico Lange claimed the problem ultimately lay with the French firm, amid German reports that it was pushing for a leadership role.
“Things go well with other French companies,” said Lange on X. “FCAS is not synonymous with “European defence… there will be many other good projects.”
Dassault has yet to comment on the situation.
Dassault AviationHowever, it also became apparent that Germany and France were after different things.
The French wanted a “small, light fighter” that could take off from its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, whereas the Germans wanted a bigger jet that could offer “air superiority”, said Rusi’s Christoph Bergs.
At the same time, German industry has become “emboldened” by massive domestic hikes in defence expenditure, meaning it’s less likely to make concessions it didn’t see as feasible, observes Bergs.
Germany’s once-thrifty approach to defence has taken an about-turn following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and since US President Donald Trump piled pressure on Europe to pay more for its own security.
By February this year German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was openly questioning the scheme.
“Will we still need a manned fighter jet in 20 years’ time?” he mused on the Machtwechsel podcast. “Do we still need it, given that we will have to develop it at great expense?”
A discussion between Merz and Macron, at a summit last week, appears to have been a decisive moment in bringing the jet project to an end.
Berlin would then go first in announcing the news on Monday, with German officials saying that Merz had “suggested” to Macron that they should abandon the jet.
Both leaders, said Berlin, had reached a shared conclusion that the companies involved “cannot reach an agreement”.
A subsequent statement from the Élysée Palace struck a more mournful note, saying that the leaders had expressed “regrets” that the industries involved hadn’t been able to make it work.
“France remains convinced that the Franco-German co-operation in defence and security is essential for both countries, as well as for our European partners,” the Élysée added.
Christoph Bergs of Rusi said that while the timing was “inopportune”, the countries involved now had a chance to “reassess” what they want given technological developments in recent years.
