Spain greenlights €700 million to flailing FCAS fighter jet project

Spain backed its commitment to Europe’s next-generation fighter jet project FCAS on Wednesday with €700 million of funding to be paid over the next six years, even as Franco-German quarrelling casts doubt over the project’s future.

As one of the three national partners in the fighter jet project, Spain has largely stayed away from a dispute between France and Germany’s aviation giants that has stalled progress on the whole Future Air Combat System (FCAS) project, which is worth €100 billion.

Also known as the system of systems, FCAS is envisioned to link a sixth-generation fighter jet and drones via an air combat cloud to other players on the battlefield, such as tanks, ships, or satellites.

Madrid has now approved €540 million specifically for the jet and drone-related developments and a further €160 million to the project as a whole.

While the new Spanish contracts simply hold to the original timeline, the move shows that Madrid has not given up on the project.

Indra, Airbus Defence Spain, ITP Aero, and Satnus are working for Spain on the project, with Indra in the lead. It recently urged its partners from Germany and France to resolve their conflict.

Dassault Aviation, France’s prime contractor, made clear its preference to develop the fighter on its own if it is not granted a greater leadership role. Its German counterpart, Airbus Defence and Space, opposes this and insists on playing an equal role in decisions over the aircraft’s design.

In the meantime, Spain’s Indra has continued to work well with both Dassault and Airbus on the project, its CEO José Vicente de los Mozos recently told Euractiv.

Defence ministers of the three partner countries were supposed to meet in October to chart a path forward for the project. While that meeting has not yet happened, French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin will visit the Spanish defence minister Margarita Robles on Friday.

(cp)