France and Germany Abandon Future Combat Air System Fighter Jet Project
France and Germany have ended the fighter jet portion of the Future Combat Air System program, a roughly $116 billion effort launched in 2017 to replace current combat aircraft fleets by 2040.
france24.comFrance and Germany have abandoned the fighter jet portion of the Future Combat Air System project, according to French and German officials. The roughly $116 billion program was launched in 2017 to develop a next-generation combat aircraft intended to replace France's Rafale fighter and Germany and Spain's Eurofighter fleets by 2040.
The Élysée Palace said the German authorities considered that it was not possible to put further pressure on the companies concerned.
The aircraft was designed to operate alongside drones and a highly networked combat cloud. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had publicly questioned whether Germany would even need a manned sixth-generation fighter by the time the aircraft entered service and argued that Berlin's requirements differed from France's.
France wanted a future jet capable of carrying nuclear weapons and operating from aircraft carriers.
German War Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin is already evaluating alternatives following the program's collapse. One alternative Germany is evaluating is ordering more F-35s. "With what we know today, we would no longer launch this project in the way it was originally set up," Pistorius said.
He described FCAS as an ambitious European project that had crashed into reality. Pistorius attributed the collapse largely to tensions between Airbus and Dassault and differing military requirements between France and Germany. The program had been edging toward collapse for months amid disputes over design authority, technology sharing and industrial control.
Spain joined the Future Combat Air System project two years after its 2017 launch. European Union Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius described the FCAS program as a failure earlier in 2026. The French authorities will continue to encourage our companies and armed forces to explore ways and means of pursuing ambitious European projects that are consistent with our national security interests, the Élysée Palace said.
