German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius lamented the failure of the joint 100 billion euro France-Germany project to build a next-generation European fighter jet — noting his disappointment at an outcome that “hurts a lot.”
Pistorius affirmed that Berlin is assessing alternate options and paths for a new fighter jet following the troubled project’s outcome — cancelled nine years after it was launched in 2017.
The two countries confirmed on Monday that their ambitious yet troubled Future Combat Air System (FCAS) next-gen fighter jet was scrapped over disagreements between France’s Dassault Aviation and Airbus over which side should lead the project.
Pistorius, speaking to reporters at the German Defense Ministry on Tuesday, said that there is a “lesson we must learn” from the outcome, noting that there is “absolutely no reason” to assume that France-Germany relations are strained because of the troubled project.
“It was an ambitious, large-scale European project that has now come crashing down in the face of reality. This does not change our relationship with France in the slightest,” Pistorius said, per the outlet stern.de
The Minister affirmed that both countries are now convinced that “with the knowledge we have today, we would no longer set up this project the way it was set up back then.”
“I know how important Franco-German cooperation is in Europe, but ultimately you have to draw a line between head and heart,” Pistorius affirmed.
Germany’s Die Zeit reports that “Team Gen 6,” A consortium of eight defense companies is planning to develop a European alternative project for a sixth-generation combat aircraft. A spokesperson from the German defense contractor Hensoldt told Die Zeit that the group has already drafted a position paper and submitted it to the German Defense Ministry, with further details to be revealed later this week at the 2026 ILA Berlin Air Show. According to Euronews, the group is led by Airbus.
Disagreements between France’s Dassault Aviation and Airbus led to the cancellation of the 100 billion euro FCAS project — launched in 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The now-failed project aimed to develop a new fighter jet intended to replace France’s Rafale and the Eurofighter, used by Germany and Spain, which joined the program in 2019. Had it been completed, its rollout was expected for 2040, at the earliest.
Further disagreements also arose in recent months between Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over what the FCAS fighter jet should be. Macron, a fierce defender of the troubled project, insisted that the project should develop a common, carrier-capable, nuclear-armed aircraft. Merz differed with Macron, affirming that this was not what the German military needed. The disagreement, Merz said in March, could have seen Berlin drop from the project before it was ultimately scrapped this week.
“Fundamentally, it sounds almost as if Germany wanted a successor to the Eurofighter and France wanted a successor to the Rafale — and those are fundamentally different aircraft. What Germany is looking for in a fighter is still unclear,” Emil Archambault, a fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told Politico.
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