Until recently, the future of the new generation European fighter development program, known as FCAS, seemed cloudless. However, now aware sources told Reuters about the difficulties associated with its coordination.
France and Germany went into a dead end on two of the seven points of cooperation. One of the problems became intellectual property rights. In France, they complain that the German "defense participating in the program intends to access French technologies. Berlin allegedly wants to be able to use technologies developed jointly with Paris for its own projects. Germans denied these accusations.
Disagreements are so deep that, as a result, the parties will build two demonstrators of technologies instead of one. Each of them will personify different aspects of Future Combat Air System.
Oils in the fire poured the situation with the parallel developing program Tempest. Its initiators, we recall, the British spoke. "Honestly, we would be much easier to work with the UK, because we share the same military culture," said Reuters a high-ranking French source.
Nevertheless, now the parties are trying to find a way out of the current situation. According to the data given, in February, representatives of the defense departments of France, Germany and Spain (another participant of the program), as well as Dassault, Airbus and Indra companies met in Paris to discuss the decision that would suit everyone.
Recall, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron began an ambitious program for developing the sixth generation fighter a few years ago, which is associated with the decision of the British to leave the European Union. The mockup of the car presented at the aviation salon in Le Bourget in 2019.
The aircraft received the NGF (Next Generation Fighter) convention. The key role in the development is played by the French Dassault Aviation.
One of the most important and at the same time unexpected news in this area has recently been the information on the flight tests of the demonstrator of the American fighter of the sixth generation. There are practically no details about the promising machine today.
Source: Naked Science