The news this week that the joint French-German-Spanish fighter jet project known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) would be scrapped was met with cries of despair, but also sighs of relief: The seemingly endless delays and mounting uncertainty over the project would finally be over. A day after German media broke the news, officials in both Paris and Berlin confirmed Tuesday that France, Germany and Spain will not build a next-generation fighter jet together.
The development did not come as a complete surprise—it had been expected for months, as the Financial Times had reported in November that Paris and Berlin were discussing downsizing the FCAS project by removing its central component, the fighter jet. This is exactly what is now happening: The “air system” part of the project will technically carry on, since the combat cloud element as well as the “remote carriers”—the drone swarm that was supposed to accompany the aircraft—are set to continue. But the heart of the fighter jet project, the fighter jet itself, will not be built.
It was no secret that the FCAS had been in trouble for many years. The project began in very different times: When it was launched in 2017, Russia had not yet mounted its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And Germany had yet to undertake the Zeitenwende—as its efforts to update and revamp its defense policy are known.