Macron: The European New Fighter Jet Project is Not "Dead," France and Germany Will Continue to Cooperate

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 25 - The project originally planned for the joint development of a new generation of European fighter jets by France, Germany, and Spain has stalled, with rumors that the competition for leadership between France and Germany could lead to the project's failure. French President Macron denied on the 24th that "the project has failed," stating that both France and Germany will continue to advance cooperation.

On the same day, leaders of EU member states attended an informal summit in Cyprus. A media reporter asked Macron: "Has the 'Future Combat Air System' project failed?" He replied: "No, not at all." He went on to say that he had a constructive discussion on this topic with German Chancellor Merz during a break in the summit, and both sides have instructed their respective defense ministers to cooperate on "a series of different issues in several areas," "not only concerning the future fighter jet but also regarding our cooperation on multiple levels."

"Europe has never needed to unite and strengthen its independence as urgently as it does now," said Macron.

A spokesperson for the German government also confirmed that the two leaders had the aforementioned discussion and stated that the relevant work of the two countries' defense ministries "will be completed in the coming weeks."

France and Germany jointly launched the "Future Combat Air System" in 2017 as a flagship project for defense cooperation, later inviting Spain to join. The project aims to develop and deploy a sixth-generation European fighter jet by 2040, gradually replacing France's Rafale jets and Germany's and Spain's Eurofighter jets, and to create a data exchange system that connects manned fighter jets with armed drones and ground radar sensors. The total budget for the project is as high as 100 billion euros, and if realized, it will become the largest and most expensive weapon project in Europe.

Participants in the project include Dassault Aviation representing France, Airbus representing Germany, and Indra Sistemas representing Spain. However, Dassault and Airbus have been embroiled in a power struggle over the project's leadership and have yet to reach an agreement on the new aircraft's design scheme. Recent negotiations involving two mediators have also not achieved a breakthrough. There are concerns that if the project fails, the process of European defense integration and Franco-German relations will suffer a serious blow. (Shen Min)