Overview
- On Friday, presidents and ministers at the Nörvenich airbase and Schloss Augustusburg agreed that German forces will take part this autumn in a French nuclear exercise in a conventional, non‑nuclear role.
- Paris confirmed that France will continue to fund and control its own nuclear arsenal and that German participation does not mean Berlin will pay for French nuclear forces.
- After the collapse of the FCAS combat‑jet project, both governments committed to keep and develop core systems such as the Combat Cloud, a networked command system to link jets, drones and other platforms, while creating new governance to manage future joint programmes.
- Operational ties have already begun: French Rafale and German Eurofighter jets completed a joint air‑to‑air refuelling exercise this week as an initial practical step in the cooperation.
- Leaders framed the pact as complementary to NATO's nuclear sharing and as an effort to marshal other European partners under France's umbrella, with officials stressing urgency to formalise structures before the next French presidential term.