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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has suggested that a beleaguered project to build a fighter jet with France could continue in scaled-back form, after Airbus said the partners should part ways.
Merz said that there would “definitely” be some kind of joint systems built by Paris and Berlin as part of their €100bn flagship air-defence project known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS).
But he also acknowledged that the main element of the programme — a jointly made combat aircraft — could be scrapped. France’s Dassault and the German-based defence arm of aerospace giant Airbus have been locked in a long-running argument over the project.
“We are trying to resolve this. In any case, there will be joint systems.’’ Merz said. ‘‘We are currently engaged in intensive dialogue with France on the extent to which we will also continue to develop and build joint aircraft, and I expect that we will reach a joint decision on this within the next few weeks.”
The German leader’s comments came after Michael Schoellhorn, chief executive of Airbus Defence and Space, said that his company had given up on manufacturing a joint fighter aircraft.
“We have come to the conclusion that . . . Dassault just has a completely different set-up in mind that is not fitting to a co-operative European project, and that’s why it’s better that we part ways on the fighter,” he told Politico.
The FT reported in November that France and Germany were discussing dropping the joint jet and focusing on development of a command and control system, dubbed the “combat cloud”.
The two nations had agreed on a deadline of the end of 2025 to resolve the dispute. But one person close to the matter said the decision was postponed until the end of February, after French President Emmanuel Macron and Merz met in Paris on January 6.
Dassault and Airbus have clashed over the aircraft’s design and construction. Though initially due to be led by the French maker of the Rafale fighter jet, with Airbus as a partner, the pair have disagreed on what that arrangement should look like. Dassault has said it wants to be able to call the shots with suppliers and on key decisions, demands Airbus has baulked at.
“Neither side wants to let go of anything,” a former French government official said this month.
A person inside Merz’s Christian Democratic Party, said: “The project is deadlocked but no one wants to be the first to say it is dead.”
President Macron, who along with the then chancellor Angela Merkel was the initial architect of FCAS, publicly rebuked the industrial groups in November, prompting renewed talks between the companies and French and German ministries in December.
Dassault put forward a new proposal to the governments of how it envisioned its leadership, two people familiar with the matter said. It included explicitly calling Airbus a subcontractor, one of the people said, and requested that the French military procurement agency oversee the works, rather than a more international committee.
Paris still hopes that the project can be saved, though French officials acknowledge the challenges.
A person involved in the talks said: “FCAS has always been a political project, so the question is, is there enough political will to continue? In France there is, in Germany there isn’t.”
Airbus said in a statement on Thursday that the company was “committed to playing a leading role in developing an FCAS system for Europe and is now awaiting guidance from the partner nations on the way forward”. Dassault declined to comment. The Élysée didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.