PARIS — Germany and France will “clarify the situation” regarding their Future Combat Air System project by the end of the year, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said after a July 24 meeting with his French counterpart, in response to bickering between partner companies about work share.
“Some of the involved companies not only have enormous amounts of expertise, they also have – naturally – their own interests and their own will,” Pistorius said in a joint press conference with French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu in Osnabrück, western Germany. “We knew that from the beginning.”
“What’s important for the two of us is that the projects represent German-French cooperation and partnership, they don’t represent national egotism.”
French plane maker Dassault Aviation, the lead on developing a new fighter jet at the heart of the system, has been vocal about wanting a larger role. Its CEO Eric Trappier has repeatedly complained of delays due to wrangling over work share with Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain for the fighter segment of the project.
France has proposed to partners Germany and Spain to reconsider the FCAS work share to ensure the project meets its 2040 deadline, the country’s armaments directorate said earlier this month.
The FCAS project has arrived at a “moment of truth,” with the next step of phase 2 including the development of a demonstrator, Lecornu said. That raises “more operational questions, because the coming phases will tie us together definitely to produce an aircraft,” the French minister said.
Pistorius acknowledged that hurdles exist, but said none of those are insurmountable.
Lecornu said the partners audited what worked and what didn’t in phases 1A and 1B of the project, and the meeting in Osnabrück will allow the ministers to issue instructions to their armaments agencies as well as the companies involved, “since obviously everyone must participate in the solutions.”
Strengthening Europe’s defense readiness can only succeed through close French-German cooperation, Pistorius said, adding that both ministers are fully committed to both FCAS as well as the future Main Ground Combat System. He said the future land-combat system is scheduled for 2040.
The French minister said the first criteria for FCAS is that the project corresponds to the needs of the countries’ armed forces, trumping any other concerns.
For France, those needs include being able to carry a nuclear weapon as well as being able to operate from an aircraft carrier.
“Basically, we are not here to carry out industrial operations or projects, but to carry out armament projects for our forces, and as a result, place orders with our manufacturers,” Lecornu said. “This is a slight novelty, as for years cooperation was sometimes aimed at developing our industries.”
The second criteria is that the FCAS project stick to its timetable, with a delay of three, four or five years meaning Germany and France could fall behind, according to Lecornu. While the timetable calls for FCAS to be fully operational by 2040, Trappier at Dassault has repeatedly said delays make 2045 more likely for the fighter.
For France, a third consideration is that the project respects the country’s sovereignty, Lecornu said.
Germany will not stand in the way of future exports related to the FCAS program, Pistorius said, stressing the question of arms exports is a national one, with no role for the European Commission.
Sebastian Sprenger in Cologne, Germany, contributed to this report.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.