Airbus is once again opening up to the possibility of a solution with two different fighters for the Future Combat Air System (Fcas), the Franco-German-Spanish project for the sixth-generation air combat system.
Speaking at the Airbus Defence Summit, Mike Schoellhorn, head of Airbus Defence and Space, the defense division of the European aerospace giant, stated that he remains open to a solution with two distinct fighters within the Fcas, recalling that the project was conceived in a geopolitical context different from the current one.
Launched in 2017, the Fcas program – estimated to be worth over 100 billion euros – is designed to replace the French Rafale and the German and Spanish Eurofighters starting from 2040. However, recently the Fcas has been the subject of a long dispute between the companies involved: the French Dassault and the defense division of the Franco-German Airbus based in Germany.
During the event, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury also reiterated that the Fcas project cannot be reduced to just the development of the new fighter.
The statements from the company’s leadership come as difficult negotiations continue between Paris and Berlin to save the project, blocked by industrial disagreements between Airbus and Dassault Aviation over leadership and work distribution. The work is divided into several pillars and the controversy concerns the leadership of the main part of the project, that of the fighters, between Airbus and Dassault Aviation.
All the details.
AIRBUS’S POSITION
According to Schoellhorn, the central idea of the program, namely the creation of a “networked system” capable of connecting combat aircraft, sensors, and drones, remains valid. However, the war in Ukraine has changed the assessments regarding the combat aircraft intended to form the core of the system.
“Yet, even then it was no secret that it would be a significant compromise to reconcile the ability to operate from aircraft carriers and the nuclear capability [requested by France] with the air superiority system needed by Germany and Spain,” Schoellhorn told journalists during the Airbus defense event near Munich, reports the Financial Times.
From a technical point of view, the manager added, the compromise has always been considered “very difficult.”
NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY
The statements from the Airbus manager come as Paris and Berlin are engaged in negotiations to try to overcome the deadlock slowing the Fcas program.
At the root of the tensions are the disagreements between Airbus Defence and Space and Dassault Aviation over project governance, industrial leadership, and the distribution of development activities for the future aircraft.
“A DIFFICULT MOMENT” ACCORDING TO FAURY
“We are at a difficult moment” for the advancement of the Fcas program but the difficulties concern the fighter, that is only “one of the seven pillars of the system” which however “is not the easiest,” and “we are at a stage where governments are collaborating to find a way out.” This was emphasized by Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury in response to journalists’ questions at the opening of the Airbus Defence Summit.
“Fcas is much more than a simple aircraft and it is precisely on this point that today we have difficulties with our partner in calling things by their name,” explained the aerospace giant’s CEO, assuring that “at Airbus we will continue to support collaboration in Europe for those systems.”
“VARIOUS PATHS TO FOLLOW”
“Regarding the fighter, which is at the center of today’s difficulties, there are several paths to follow, and I leave it to the governments to reflect and decide what they want to do,” Faury stated. The reference is to an alternative plan discussed by France and Germany that would foresee each building its own fighter, but still jointly developing the engine, the combat cloud, and the drones.
Faury also explained that he remains “optimistic” about the project as a whole, stressing however that “it is better to face difficulties and the realities of what awaits us in the next decade now, rather than correct them later.”
THE DIFFICULTIES OF INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION
According to Mike Schoellhorn, head of Airbus Defence and Space, when France and Germany launched Fcas in 2017, European governments were more willing to accept compromises on the technical requirements of the aircraft.
Moreover, for Airbus CEO Faury, a difficulty of the Fcas program is linked to the “different DNA” of the companies working on it. According to the Airbus CEO, it would be “much easier to develop a multinational program when there is a single company able to meet different needs” so as to “manage complexity and difficult compromises” within a single company.
THE EXAMPLE OF THE BROMO SPACE ALLIANCE
The Airbus CEO cited, as an example, the recent agreement in the space sector with Leonardo and Thales for satellite activities.
Last October 23 Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the goal of unifying their respective space activities into a new company, code-named Project Bromo. The three companies state that the operation would create a stronger European player, capable of competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Chinese rivals.
“That is exactly what we have recently done” in the Space sector “trying to bring together industrial resources to ensure that, for large constellations, whether European constellations or military programs, we were able to offer a solution developed by a single company, then manage complexity and difficult compromises in a single company where interests are aligned,” concluded the Airbus CEO.
