BERLIN — France and Germany have agreed to abandon plans to jointly develop a next‑generation fighter jet, German officials said Monday, bringing an end to one of Europe’s most ambitious post‑Cold War defence efforts.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Emmanuel Macron, meeting on the sidelines of last week’s EU‑Western Balkans summit in Montenegro, concluded the programme was stalled beyond repair after months of disputes over specifications, industrial control and differing military needs, the officials said.
Launched by Macron and former German chancellor Angela Merkel in 2017, the roughly €100 billion initiative centred on a manned core fighter supported by drones and a classified secure communications network dubbed the “combat cloud.” Talks have long faltered over which companies would lead, notably Airbus for Germany and Spain and Dassault Aviation for France and over whether the aircraft should carry nuclear capability or operate from carriers.
Sources said negotiators were exploring a face‑saving arrangement that would preserve the project’s name, Future Combat Air System (FCAS), for peripheral elements such as the secure network, while dropping the shared development of the core fighter. That approach would be largely symbolic, officials acknowledged, since FCAS is a generic label for integrated air combat systems.
Merz has questioned the need for a manned sixth‑generation fighter for Germany, arguing a carrier‑capable, nuclear‑armed jet is unnecessary for the Bundeswehr. Macron’s office did not immediately comment. The collapse highlights the broader challenges European governments face in rebuilding defence capabilities after decades of underinvestment.