According to Éric Trappier, the set schedule for the development and production of the Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (FCAS) can no longer be met. As the CEO of Dassault Aviation said at the Paris Air Forum yesterday, the goal of having FCAS operational by 2040 is out of reach. He rather assumes that the system could be ready for use in 2050. According to the CEO, the reason for this delay of ten years is the lengthy discussion about the design of the upcoming development phase 1B. In addition to Dassault, Airbus is also involved in the development of the multinational project.
According to Trappier, there are disagreements between the two companies about how to work together on the development of the Next Generation Fighter, which will become FCAS' fighter jet. The Dassault boss also said that his company also has a plan B, making it clear that Dassault does not want to remain part of the project at any price.
Trappier told the Bloomberg news agency that Airbus was blocking the process and that politicians would probably need to clarify the dispute in order to end it.
In addition to the new next-generation aircraft, the FCAS concept also includes unmanned autonomous platforms, so-called remote carriers, and a combat cloud, via which the systems are to be securely networked with one another. The latter two are to be developed by Airbus.
Editorial staff / oh
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