Following the scrapping of the joint Franco-German Future Combat Air System (FCAS) fighter jet project, eight defence companies are now in the running to develop a new fighter jet.
Under the banner of "Team Gen 6," the defence divisions of Airbus, MTU, Hensoldt, MBDA, Autoflug, Diehl Defence, Liebherr and Rohde & Schwarz aim to jointly develop a new fighter jet.
“We must not waste any time; We must take responsibility on the German side, demonstrate our ability to act, and consistently continue on the path towards an airborne networked weapon system with a strong leadership role,” stated a strategic position paper by the companies, which was published during the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) in Berlin on Thursday.
A similar alliance is forming in Spain
In a press release, the companies also emphasized their commitment to multinational cooperation. “Working closely with the German partners, Spanish industry is also forming a consortium comprising Indra, Airbus Defence and Space, Grupo Oesia, GMV, ITP and Sener,” the statement said.
Germany and France agreed on the FCAS project in 2017. However, Dassault and Airbus were unable to agree on a common approach during negotiations.
Earlier in the week, Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron announced the end of the multibillion-euro fighter jet project after lengthy discussions.
On Wednesday, Merz emphasized at the ILA that part of FCAS would be continued, namely the “Combat Cloud,” through which a wide variety of weapon systems are to be networked.
The joint fighter jet was actually intended to replace the Eurofighter in Germany and the Rafale jets in France.
Exactly how things will proceed from here remains to be seen. The most likely scenario is that Airbus and its seven partners, together with the Spanish alliance, will seek to collaborate with the Swedish manufacturer Saab Gripen.
