Airbus-Led Alliance Lobbies Germany on Fighter Jet Project
The paper outlines the companies’ potential role in FCAS as Berlin weighs future options after months of talks with industry, officials said.
- On Tuesday, an Airbus-led group submitted a position paper to the German government outlining contributions to the Future Combat Air System , signaling industry efforts to shape Europe's future combat jet program.
- Uncertainty regarding the direction of the future combat jet program in Europe prompted the industry initiative, following collapse of a previous Franco-German flagship effort to develop a next-generation fighter.
- The group, dubbed "Team Gen 6", comprises Airbus Defence, Autoflug, Diehl Defence, Hensoldt, Liebherr, MBDA, MTU Aero Engines, and Rohde & Schwarz; Diehl Defence aims to contribute weapons systems to any sixth-generation jet.
- German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday that problems surrounding FCAS had been evident "for quite some time", with Berlin holding talks with stakeholders regarding future options for months.
- Industry sources clarified that this move does not constitute an attempt to launch a new fighter project, as the consortium seeks to influence the existing framework amid ongoing direction uncertainty in Europe.
19 Articles
19 Articles
The fatal outcome of the FCAS project could not be worse: France and Germany did not even agree to jointly communicate their disconnection, while the third partner, Spain, was directly ignored. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has given little explanation in his intervention at the ILA aviation fair in Berlin, in whose backroom, however, he is starting a German initiative led by Airbus that aims to take advantage in the new race for European hun…
Europe’s next fighter jet problem has no easy answer
BERLIN — The collapse of a €100 billion program to build a European next-generation jet fighter has countries scrambling for options. For nearly a decade, the Future Combat Air System was supposed to embody a new vision of European military power: a French, German and Spanish effort — with Belgium as an observer — to build not just a fighter jet, but an entire networked system of jets, drones, sensors and satellites capable of competing with som…
While France and Germany agreed on the end of the SCAF European combat aircraft project, against the background of disagreement between Dassault Aviation and Airbus, the latter would have already offered to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, together with seven other companies, another fighter aircraft project via the "Team Gen 6" group.
The death of the Franco-German Scaf opens a race to define the architecture of the future European combat aircraft. The German industry is positioned with a group of eight defence industrialists, driven by Airbus.
Following the collapse of a high-profile Franco-German military aircraft project, a consortium led by Airbus has offered to build a next-generation fighter, one of the companies involved in the project told AFP on Tuesday.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 59% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
