But years of industrial disputes — particularly between France’s Dassault Aviation and Germany’s Airbus — have repeatedly held back progress. Spain is also a member of the consortium but its participation has been much less problematic.
The target timing would allow Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron to take part in that day’s EU–Western Balkans summit in Brussels with an aligned stance on FCAS.
A German chancellery spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. The French Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
While no final decision has been taken, officials and industry figures say the working expectation is that the program is likely to continue in a scaled-down or reconfigured form.
According to people familiar with the matter, one option is that the program would continue as an overarching framework for shared technologies like the combat cloud and sensors. The most disputed element, the fighter jet, could end up splitting into separate national airframes, meaning each country would build its own version of the aircraft instead of sharing a single design.
France would rather operate a 15-ton warplane, which is light enough to land on aircraft carriers, while Germany is more inclined toward a 18-ton aircraft aimed at air superiority.