Overview
- Berlin confirmed no end‑of‑year decision on the Future Combat Air System and gave no new date, citing a crowded Franco‑German foreign and security agenda.
- Negotiations remain stuck over company roles and intellectual property, with reports that Dassault sought roughly 80% control while Germany expects equal participation under prior understandings.
- FCAS is planned as a networked system pairing a new fighter with drones and a shared Combat Cloud, with costs estimated in the triple‑digit billions of euros.
- The program, joined by Spain alongside Germany and France, is intended to replace the Eurofighter and Rafale around 2040 if it proceeds.
- Observers warn the project could fail without a breakthrough, and discussions of a two‑fighter compromise or a German pivot to the UK‑Italy‑Japan GCAP are described as possibilities rather than decided plans.