France and Germany will discuss their joint fighter jet program for one last time

The project has already been stalling due to disagreements between manufacturers. France’s Dassault and Germany’s Airbus Defence and Space were unable to reach an agreement. As French President Emmanuel Macron stated, “they just can’t seem to agree. Our job is to ensure they reach an agreement, so we have jointly decided to launch an initiative to bring Airbus and Dassault closer together in the coming weeks. This must be done in a calm and respectful manner, precisely to identify areas of common ground.”

The April deadline is there due to the upcoming decisions on Germany’s federal budget. This will be a final attempt at mediation between the industries.

FCAS is a 100-billion-euro project, launched in 2017 to replace France’s Rafales and Germany’s Eurofighters by 2040. The program includes a warplane, drones, and a combat cloud. The German side began developing two separate planes in order to end the disagreement between manufacturers. The French side does not agree to those terms.

Recently, we hear a lot about Europe’s need to be militarily self-sufficient. Joint programs between European countries and development of arms are needed. Disagreements between local manufacturers will always happen, and it is up to experts and decision-makers to overcome those hindrances.