New Solutions for Europe's Future Fighter Jets

According to a report by Reference News Network on May 24, the German newspaper Welt reported on May 20 that Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury attended the "Airbus Defense Summit" in the southern German city of Manching and, in his speech, publicly hinted for the first time that the final outcome of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project may involve more than one aircraft—France and Germany have significant differences, which may ultimately lead to the development of two different aircraft.

Faury provided reasons for the shift in position: "The project was initiated before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. We started advancing based on certain assumptions during peacetime, and now those assumptions are being questioned more strongly." In other words, FCAS was designed under the condition of a European peace order, which no longer exists.

For months, FCAS has been at a standstill. The main reason is the dispute between Airbus and French Dassault Aviation over project leadership and engineering shares. Reports indicate that the French side demands about 80% of the share, while Airbus advocates for equal cooperation.

Additionally, behind the Franco-German dispute are differing military needs: France requires the new aircraft to have the capability to take off and land on aircraft carriers. To achieve this, the aircraft must be designed to be smaller and structurally more robust to work with flight decks and elevators and withstand extreme impacts during takeoff and landing. This design will increase the weight and complexity of the aircraft.

However, from Germany's perspective, this would limit performance and development space: increased weight would compress the space for payload, electronic equipment, and fuel storage. Furthermore, integrating internal weapon bays, which are crucial for stealth performance, is more challenging for carrier-based aircraft. Therefore, the large stealth air superiority fighter favored by Germany, which has long-range combat capabilities and performance reserves, is difficult to reconcile with the carrier-based aircraft required by France.

At the exhibition in Manching, Airbus once again attempted to endorse the FCAS project, refuting speculation about its potential failure.

Faury stated that FCAS "is not just a fighter jet." The project has multiple pillars, such as combat cloud, system interconnectivity, and engine development, "and all of these are progressing very smoothly." (Translated by Zhong Sirui)