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Europe wanted to build its great fighter of the future with three countries in the cockpit: France, Germany and Spain. It was not a minor project nor a simple renewal of aircraft, but one of the most ambitious commitments of European defense for the coming decades, with a view to replacing models such as the French Rafale and the Eurofighter used by Germany and Spain by 2040. But this plan, presented for years as a symbol of strategic cooperation, has just collided with a much less epic reality: the companies called to make it possible have not been able to reach an agreement. The blow. According to Reutersthe Elysée confirmed that France and Germany were no longer in a position to continue with the project after the German authorities considered the margin to pressure the companies involved exhausted. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had discussed the matter the previous week in Montenegro, on the sidelines of a summit between the EU and the Western Balkans. The conclusion was difficult to conceal: after months of blocking, the program had been left without a clear exit in its current form. industrial shock. The program was stuck for months between Dassault Aviation, the French company linked to the Rafale, and Airbus, which represents the industrial interests of Germany and Spain. The dispute was not minor: who led the development, what technology was shared and how intellectual property was protected. Dassault would have defended a leading role to avoid losing control over its capabilities, while Airbus defended a more balanced relationship. It wasn’t just a fighter. The FCAS It was always something broader than a substitute for the French Rafale and the Eurofighter used by Germany and Spain. The plan aspired to build a connected combat system, with a manned aircraft at the center, drones, remote carriers and a military cloud, the Combat Cloudto coordinate secure communications between air, naval, land and space platforms. That is why the blow has more depth than the cancellation of a plane: it affects an architecture designed so that Europe would not only buy future capabilities, but could develop them itself. What is at stake in Spain?. The coup also hits Spain hard. Its participation is articulated through Indracalled to reinforce the Spanish role in areas such as connectivity, technological integration and some of the critical technologies of the system. Furthermore, Airbus not only defended German interests, but also Spanish ones within the program. That is why the blockade does not only affect the calendar of the future fighter: it can alter the industrial weight that Spain aspired to consolidate in one of the great European defense bets for the coming decades. Tension in the air. The Guardian points out that Paris and Berlin maintained differences over the type of aircraft they needed, because France was looking for a model capable of operating from aircraft carriers and carrying nuclear weapons, while Germany did not have exactly the same military priorities. Merz had also publicly questioned whether the development of a sixth-generation manned fighter still made sense for the German air force. The discussion, therefore, was not only who manufactured what, but for what specific needs the system should be created. What remains standing. The stopping of the fighter does not necessarily imply that the entire FCAS disappears completely. The program also includes drones and a high-security combat cloud, and European sources cited by Reuters saw it possible for these two elements to continue. A German government source even spoke of continuing the core of FCAS as a European system capable of connecting aircraft, drones and other components into an integrated whole. The big question is whether this architecture can survive without the airplane that was supposed to serve as its centerpiece. The initial plan and the current reality. The FCAS was on its way to being one of the great symbols of European defense for the coming decades. Today, however, it has become a direct test of the limits of that cooperation. We know that France and Germany have considered the current path exhausted, we know that Spain has industrial interests at stake and we also know that some pieces of the system could try to survive. What we don’t know yet is what form the project will take from now on. Images | Airbus In Xataka | Airbus has just made the most autonomous commercial aircraft in the world fly. Your goal: 22 hours straight without a stopover