Germany hunts for a new fighter jet partner after FCAS collapse, with Italy's GCAP and a domestic Airbus-led team in the running

The end of FCAS

Germany and France have formally abandoned the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the trinational fighter jet programme with Spain that had been mired in disputes between Dassault and Airbus. Chancellor Friedrich Merz recommended to President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that the project not be pursued further, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine. The programme was estimated at more than 100 billion euros.

The GCAP alternative

Attention has shifted immediately to the British-Italian-Japanese Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The three nations founded a joint venture, Edgewing, a year and a half ago to design and build a sixth-generation fighter. A prototype flight is planned for next year, with deliveries targeted for the middle of the next decade. Leonardo CEO Lorenzo Mariani told Reuters that Germany would be "a particularly valuable partner" and would "certainly bring expertise to the project." Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto had said last year that additional partners were welcome to share development costs.

From an industrial point of view, Germany would certainly bring expertise to the project.

However, the Handelsblatt notes that adding Germany as a fourth partner would make the already compromise-laden project significantly more complicated and require a redistribution of development work. The UK has also raised doubts about financing; the Labour government's defence investment plan, due last autumn, remains unpublished.

The domestic option: Team Gen 6

An alliance of eight defence firms led by Airbus Defence and Space has submitted a position paper to the German defence ministry. The group, called Team Gen 6, includes Autoflug, Diehl Defence, Hensoldt, Liebherr, MBDA, MTU Aero Engines, and Rohde und Schwarz. A spokesman said the project is named "Next Generation Weapon System" (NGWS). Further details are expected on Thursday at the ILA air show in Berlin.

That is conceivable and is one of the possibilities.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed his ministry is examining multiple options. He listed three publicly: joining an existing international programme such as GCAP, developing a new jet under German leadership via Airbus and partners, and ordering additional F-35 jets from the United States. He added there may be a fourth option he would not discuss.

The F-35 bridge

Lieutenant General Holger Neumann, the German air force inspector, told the Handelsblatt that a capability gap will open between the last Eurofighter delivery in 2035 and the availability of a future European combat aircraft. He said future fighters need stealth capabilities and the ability to operate with unmanned systems, qualities currently best met by the F-35. Without them, the air force would hit "operational limits."

Between the delivery of the last Eurofighters in 2035 and the availability of a future European combat aircraft, a gap will emerge that we must bridge.

The Swedish track

Sweden and its manufacturer Saab are also cited as a potential partner. The Gripen fighter is flown by Sweden and exported to Brazil, Thailand, South Africa, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. German AI start-up Helsing is already equipping Swedish jets with artificial intelligence. The Handelsblatt notes that Sweden is unlikely to develop a sixth-generation fighter alone, making a partnership logical.

What comes next

The German government is under pressure to move quickly. The FCAS failure has exposed the difficulty European states face in rebuilding military capacity after decades of underinvestment, at a time of growing threats from Russia and US demands for higher NATO defence spending. The ILA air show this week is expected to bring further announcements from the Team Gen 6 consortium.