Germany has pulled out of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a stalled stealth-fighter project with France and Spain whose lack of progress has become emblematic of the hurdles Europe faces in rebuilding its militaries as the U.S. reduces its presence on the continent, a senior German government official told The Wall Street Journal.
Berlin will no longer pursue building and ordering the aircraft after failing to resolve a dispute between Airbus and Dassault over which company should take the lead on its development, the official said. The project, conceived to produce Europe’s answer to the most recent U.S., Chinese and Russian stealth fighters, was intended to surpass the capabilities of the U.S. F-35 and fill a critical gap in European arsenals.
Instead, it became “the most high-profile example of how Europe has at times struggled to turn what is among the highest levels of military spending by any aligned group of countries in the world into a coherent effort that yields more than the sum of its parts,” according to the Journal’s reporting.
Germany and France will continue working together on some components of the project, including the so-called “combat cloud” — an artificial-intelligence-powered system that would link future aircraft with swarms of drones and other weapons. The French and German defense ministries are scheduled to meet in July to develop “a realistic road map for future defense cooperation based on a limited number of more relevant and realistic projects,” the German official said.
The project’s unraveling follows years of disagreement over industrial leadership. Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier insisted his company should lead the effort because of its record in building combat aircraft, while Airbus, whose defense business is based mainly in Germany, pushed back. Over the past year, following numerous exchanges between the two sides, Merz and Macron came to realize the companies could not be forced to cooperate, the official said. After a final conversation with Trappier, Merz suggested France forge ahead on its own with the aircraft portion.
The withdrawal leaves Germany, an early pioneer in the aerospace industry, without an active fighter-aircraft program to work on. Companies involved in the rival GCAP program — the Global Combat Air Programme led by the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan — have said their aircraft is so far developed that it would be difficult to redivide work shares. Those companies are not currently in talks with Airbus about joining, according to a person familiar with the matter. Berlin has not yet decided whether to seek a role in another multinational project, the German official said.
Security officials across Europe fear that the reduced U.S. presence could encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to stage a confrontation with NATO before European nations can fill the gap left by the American drawdown, according to the Journal’s reporting.
The U.S. has redirected European orders of Patriot interceptors, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, and other weapons to itself, Ukraine, and potentially Middle East allies. European nations including Germany face long waits for the F-35. Some lawmakers and defense experts have questioned whether F-35s would remain operational if the U.S. withdrew support — all jets require spare parts, software, and updates from their manufacturers. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 has become an emblem of European dependence on the U.S. for certain defense capabilities, the Journal reported.
In response to Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European nations have increased military procurement, but such efforts have often been uncoordinated, leading to overlaps, inefficiencies, a lack of scale, and sometimes incompatibilities. Big cross-border projects like FCAS were designed to overcome these limitations, but in practice it has proven difficult for governments and defense contractors to collaborate across borders.
To be sure, Europe is self-sufficient in many weapons systems; its naval ships outsell U.S. equivalents globally. The United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, and other nations are working on several projects to develop missiles with ranges exceeding 1,000 miles, a capability the region has had little of for decades. But Europe’s overall defense architecture remains fragmented.
While the decision represents a setback for European defense sovereignty, Berlin hopes it removes a persistent irritant with Paris as the two countries move forward with an agreement to begin extending France’s nuclear deterrent to Germany and other European nations — a process that French President Emmanuel Macron first signaled in March.