The Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, was meant to be Europe's most ambitious fighter jet. Conceived in 2017 between French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel
Closure of €100 billion Europe's next combat aircraft project [FCAS]
https://europeancorrespondent.com/en/r/the-european-fighter-jet-that-died-over-stubborn-capitals
8 Comments
BigShammy80@feddit.org · 8 pts · 71d
So basically 2 CEOs let go a 100 billion deal, because their ego was too big??????
Holy shit.
zaphod@sopuli.xyz · 9 pts · 71d
Doubt it was just about leadership. Germany and France have very different requirements for fighter jets.
Akip@piefed.world · 6 pts · 71d
The different requirements were known for years. But showing up with no alternative to the press conference now that the deal is finally busted and releasing solo statements instead of a joint one of macron+merz just shows incompetence IMO.
Waterpumpee@lemmus.org · -9 pts · 71d
What differences are there? Does germany want them to be GDPR conform and run on Bio fuel/ Solar?
zaphod@sopuli.xyz · 8 pts · 71d
France usually only wants one fighter jet model for all it's military branches, that involves their navy with their aircraft carrier. Germany doesn't have an aircraft carrier.
PromKingJosh@tarte.nuage-libre.fr · 4 pts · 71d
Also the sources Wikipedia uses:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/08/france-and-germany-abandon-joint-project-to-build-european-fighter-jet
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/german-french-leaders-unable-resolve-fcas-fighter-jet-dispute-sources-say-2026-06-08/
Successful_Try543@feddit.org · 3 pts · 71d
PromKingJosh@tarte.nuage-libre.fr · 3 pts · 71d
The Piefed summary cut off the first paragrapg, fixed now