German Industry Urges Dual FCAS Fighter Plan

German aerospace industry lobby group BDLI is calling for a dual-fighter strategy under the French-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program, effectively urging France and the others to go separate ways while maintaining the veneer of cooperation.

Political leaders have been reluctant to see the FCAS program, which has emerged as a European flagship effort at cooperation, fail at a time of geopolitical tensions. The program includes a Next-Generation Fighter, but also joint work on issues such as uncrewed aircraft and a combat cloud to tie systems together, with each country leading distinct elements.

“A two-aircraft solution is not a failure, but the FCAS program growing up,” Marie-Christine von Hahn, head of the German BDLI lobby group, said in a Feb. 9 statement. Such an approach, she argued, allows different countries to pursue varying priorities and reduces areas of friction because cooperation can take place where it makes economic and technical sense.

The divorce on the Next-Generation Fighter has been months in the making. Tensions flared after Dassault Aviation, the lead partner for the Next-Generation Fighter element of the FCAS project, expressed frustration with the program’s structure, arguing it lacked sufficient control. The German side at first bristled at the push to revise the FCAS program.

More recently, though, Germany has been saying French requirements for the fighter, which include the desire to carry nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and operate from an aircraft carrier, complicated the partnership.

Michael Schöllhorn, CEO of Airbus Defense and Space, said recently it may make more sense to go separate ways on the combat aircraft while looking for areas to still work together under FCAS. He currently holds the rotating presidency of the lobby group.

Jürgen Kerner, a representative of Germany’s powerful IG Metall labor union, added in the BDLI statement that if the German government spends taxpayer money on a project like FCAS, it needs to be able to generate value for the country and secure jobs. “A two-aircraft solution assures that,“ he added.