FCAS combat aviation program, which primarily involves creating a Next Generation Fighter sixth-generation fighter by the end of the year, may reach its sad but logical end after Dassault and Airbus publicly quarreled and pointed each other to the exit due to problems with distributing each company's share and work in the project.
And if FCAS does ultimately collapse completely, then Germany, it seems, will have an opportunity to join another similar international aviation program we're talking about the joint project of Great Britain, Italy, and Japan called GCAP (Global Combat Air Programme), Zona Militar reports.
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At least recently, Italian defense minister Guido Crosetto stated that Germany most likely can join this project in the future. And this means that GCAP's doors are open to Berlin, however, so far the position of the two other parties on this issue has not been voiced, so it's unknown whether the voiced position was agreed upon by all parties.
However, it's worth noting that things in the GCAP project are allegedly going much better so far than in FCAS at least the main contractors Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, BAE Systems, and Leonardo agreed on equal cooperation. From this follows the nuance that if new participants enter the project, others will have to sacrifice their share in the program.
And the queue of those wishing is now supposedly quite large besides Germany, we're talking about three more countries that submitted requests Canada, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. Regarding the latter, GCAP should primarily be interested in attracting this country to the project through the banal question of financial component.
Italy's defense minister believes that the more countries participate in the GCAP program, the better according to him, the more critical mass we can invest in, the more intellectual potential we can combine, the higher the economic return will be and the less it will cost us.
But we return again to the question of whether joining new participants won't become the same stone of discord for GCAP, where although things are going better than in FCAS, it's not without nuances because Japan is dissatisfied with the project’s implementation pace they need the aircraft by 2035, while the British and French are not in such a hurry and a schedule until 2040 is quite acceptable for them.
Although Great Britain and France supposedly understand Japanese concerns and held negotiations on how the project can be accelerated.
Returning to the question of Germany's participation in GCAP, which for now still remains a FCAS participant, it's worth recalling even if the latter finally collapses, there's a ghostly alternative of a joint program with the French called Combat Fighter System Nucleus (CFSN), within which they want to create a combat cloud storage, as well as a family of European combat drones. And they agreed to make a final decision on FCAS this month.
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