France and Germany want to build fighter jets to compete with the F-35

Dirk Hoke, CEO of Airbus Defense and Space, called on the European branch of Airbus and France's Dassault to cooperate to develop a new fighter jet to compete with similar products from the US.

The sixth-generation fighter could replace the current Eurofighter and Rafale.

In an interview with Sputnik, Jean-Vincent Brisse, retired Brigadier General of the French Air Force and senior associate at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), highly valued the development of Franco-German fighter aircraft in the next 17-18 years and spoke about the problems that the European defense industry will likely have to solve.

"This opportunity should not be missed" - As Dirk Hoke said in an interview on November 27 with Les Echos newspaper, the accession of Emmanuel Macron to the presidency will create "a unique opportunity to promote European cooperation" in the aircraft manufacturing industry.

The program, approved at the 19th session of the Franco-German Council in July, envisages the creation of a sixth-generation fighter by 2040, replacing the Tornado, Eurofighter and Rafale. Some French businessmen "fear that Germany will play a major role in all these projects," the newspaper writes.

"The desire is getting closer - that's good, but it needs to be based on some foundation, which is not there right now" and requires political will - said Brigadier General Jean-Vincent Brisse. Some European countries have shown that they are European when it comes to receiving funding, capital grants, participating in European programs. But when it comes to spending their own money to buy something, they suddenly become less European and turn to the United States".

What will happen to countries like the UK, Italy and Spain that have collaborated on the Tornado and Eurofighter projects (UK and Italy are also involved in the F35 project)? It is not yet clear. The project has just been proposed and we are only at the beginning.

The project involves the creation of a sixth-generation aircraft, and “the fifth generation is at a standstill”. New research is needed, especially in the area of ​​“directing capabilities towards that end, but it is far from complete”.

“There needs to be cooperation between Airbus and Dassault, which are currently competitors. There needs to be cooperation between the Eurofighter and Rafale projects,” Brisset stressed.

The cooperation between the two competitors could be the first experience of its kind among European aircraft manufacturers, because at one point, when Dassault failed to find support in Europe, it developed the Rafale alone, while other European companies preferred to focus on the Eurofighter project. Is the French aircraft manufacturer ready to forget this unpleasant situation?

“This is one of the key questions that needs to be answered. It all comes down to political will. This cooperation is more Airbus's desire than Dassault's.”

According to the head of Airbus Defense and Space, he wants "the German army to be able to defend itself in the years 2035-2045". The transport of US atomic bombs is assigned to the Tornado aircraft, but this task can also be performed by the Eurofighter. In Dirk Hoke's opinion, the new aircraft "will allow the continued use of European-made aircraft and avoid buying the American F-35".

The problem here is the ability to choose the right aircraft model for everyone, which is not as easy as it seems, due to the different requirements of the armed forces across Europe. And this is extremely important from the point of view of Europe's independence from the US military-industrial complex.

“Obviously, this proposal was made to prevent the F35 from coming, because otherwise Dassault and Airbus fighters would be threatened. This is the real problem. The problem is not to build the plane, but the problem is that the Europeans need something that has already started developing, something they have already started building - to get a finished product right now.”

According to sputniknews