FRANCE AND GERMANY ABANDON JOINT FIGHTER JET PROJECT

France and Germany have abandoned the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a joint fighter jet programme, after concluding that the companies involved cannot reach an agreement. Officials in Berlin confirmed the decision, citing a shared assessment by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The project, launched in 2017, was intended to replace France's Rafale jets and the Eurofighter used by Germany and Spain by approximately 2040. The programme carried an estimated value of €100 billion.

The project was repeatedly hampered by disputes between France's Dassault Aviation and the European aerospace group Airbus, which represented German and Spanish interests. Dassault sought to act as lead development partner in order to protect its intellectual property, while Airbus pushed for an equal partnership with significant technology transfers. France and Germany also disagreed over the aircraft's design requirements, with France needing a jet capable of carrying nuclear weapons and landing on aircraft carriers. Merz had previously questioned whether developing a crewed sixth-generation fighter jet remained appropriate for Germany's air force, noting that EU member states do not share identical military hardware requirements.

The FCAS programme encompassed not only the fighter jet but also drones and a high-security combat data cloud. Its collapse represents a significant setback for European defence co-operation at a time when the continent faces pressure from a hostile Russia and growing uncertainty over United States reliability. European nations have spent decades underinvesting in defence, making closer co-operation on shared military hardware a stated priority across the continent.