Germany and France postpone decision on FCAS joint air combat system

Germany and France have once again postponed their decision on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a joint European air defence initiative, this time indefinitely.

"Contrary to the original plan, a final decision on the continuation of the FCAS project has not yet been made at the end of the year," a government spokesperson told dpa.

"The reason for this was the comprehensive Franco-German agenda on foreign and security policy issues, which has not yet made it possible to address the issue of a joint combat aircraft at the level of the President and the Chancellor," the spokesperson said in a statement which was also reported by the defence portal Hartpunkt.

"We cannot give a new date for a decision at this time," the statement added.

If realized, FCAS would be the largest and most expensive European armaments project. In addition to Germany and France, Spain also wants to participate. The total costs are estimated at hundreds of billions of euros.

The air combat system is designed to fly in conjunction with unarmed and armed drones and is therefore more than just a fighter jet. The plan is for it to replace the Eurofighter from 2040.

The decision on implementation was originally supposed to be made by the end of August, but was then postponed until the end of the year, mainly due to differences over the share of the project held by the aviation firms Dassault, Airbus and Indra.