France and Germany have abandoned the joint project to build a European fighter jet, officials in Berlin have confirmed, in a significant blow to Europe's common defence ambitions. The Future Combat Air System (FCAS), launched in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, was intended to replace France's Rafale jets and the Eurofighter used by Germany and Spain by around 2040.
The €100bn programme has been plagued by disagreements between the main contractors, France's Dassault Aviation and the European aerospace group Airbus, which represents German and Spanish interests. Dassault insisted on being the lead partner to protect its intellectual property, while Airbus pushed for a more equal partnership involving significant technology transfers. The two sides also clashed over the type of jet, with France seeking a single European model and Germany arguing its needs differed due to French requirements for nuclear weapon carriage and aircraft carrier operations.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Macron reached the 'shared assessment that the companies will not be able to come together,' a German official told Agence France-Presse. Merz had previously questioned the need for a crewed sixth-generation fighter jet, noting that EU member states have different military hardware requirements. The collapse follows failed mediation efforts, including the appointment of two mediators in March who were unable to salvage the initiative.
While the fighter jet element of FCAS has been abandoned, European sources told Reuters that development of other components, such as drones and a high-security combat data cloud, could continue. A German government source described the core of FCAS as a 'nervous system that networks aircraft, drones and other components into an integrated whole,' suggesting a broader European system may still be pursued.
The failure of the project is a heavy blow to European defence cooperation, amid decades of underinvestment and growing threats from Russia and an increasingly unreliable US. With French elections scheduled for next year, Paris reportedly sees some positive outcome from one of Macron's landmark projects as important. Neither Dassault nor Airbus commented on the announcement.
