France has asked Germany and Spain to reconsider the industrial work-sharing on the Future Combat Air System project, the French Directorate General for Armament told Defense News on Wednesday. The proposal aims to keep the project on schedule for a next-generation fighter to enter service in 2040.
According to the defense procurement agency, the program has made significant progress but is encountering difficulties, prompting France to urge its partner nations to redesign their cooperation based on “strengthening industrial leadership.” It encouraged all program stakeholders to draw “lessons from the first years of cooperation” to ensure timelines are met, adding that the details of this revised framework are currently being discussed.
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Next-Generation Fighter
The Future Combat Air System is a Franco-German-Spanish program designed to deliver a sixth-generation fighter jet, uncrewed remote carriers and a combat cloud network. Led by Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Indra, the multibillion-dollar initiative seeks to replace the Spanish and German Eurofighters and France’s Rafale jet.
The program is being developed in stages. The first phase focuses on research, technology and design work, and the second phase will involve building and testing demonstrator aircraft. The first flight is expected around 2029.
‘Program of Equals’
The DGA’s statement follows reports that Paris wants an 80 percent share of the FCAS industrial workload. Last April, Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier criticized the collaboration with Airbus on the project, telling French lawmakers that the current arrangement is not working well and urging governments to step in and reassess the program’s management.
Officials have warned against making changes to the program. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged all partners to adhere to the original agreements and expressed confidence in resolving the issues. Meanwhile, Airbus CEO Michael Schoellhorn emphasized the need to address governance and workload issues by the end of the year.
The DGA told Defense News that adhering to the schedule is essential, describing the program as an “unprecedented complexity.” While the directorate said the project remains a “program of equals,” ongoing talks will “lead to a reworking of the division of labor between each industrial player.”