Airbus CEO tells French they are free to leave FCAS fighter jet project

If Dassault Aviation is unhappy with the next generation fighter jet project FCAS, they have the option to exit, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said in response to complaints by their French working partner.

Speaking on the margins of the company’s quarterly financial earnings call, the CEO of the multinational aeroplane manufacturer told media that it is obvious that their French partner is not satisfied and want to renegotiate the agreed work share of the project to build Europe’s sixth-generation fighter jet, networked with a system of drones (FCAS).

“So if they’re not happy with what was decided and they don’t agree to continue in this setup, they are free to decide to move out of FCAS,” Faury said.

Dassault, France’s prime contractor in the €100 billion project, has made clear it clear that it wants a stronger leading role in developing the jet part of the aviation combat system, even mentioning that it would prefer to develop a next-generation fighter on its own instead of continue working together with Germany’s Airbus Defence. Given that France withdrew from two earlier European fighter jet projects – including the Eurofighter – the threat is not an empty one.

While the German and French governments have set a deadline to resolve the conflict by the end of the year, France’s new government is still forming, endangering the timeline to resolve the industrial rift.

Originally, defence ministers from the three partner countries of FCAS, Germany, France, and Spain, were due to meet in Berlin in October to chart a way forward. This meeting has been postponed due to the reformation of the French government.

The German defence ministry told Euractiv that they are working to set up a new date for this meeting.

At the beginning of last week, France’s new deputy defence minister Alice Rufo met her counterpart Jens Plötner in Berlin.

(cp)