Building the Europe of defense is much easier said than done. While war is once again raging on the Old Continent, pushing the States of the European Union to close ranks, the major industrialists in the sector are preparing for the future. And the least we can say is that there is some friction on the line between Dassault Aviation and Airbus Defense & Space, two of the main partners who must build the fighter plane of the future whose name code is “Next Generation Fighter”.
This aircraft, whose probable stealth and performance are already being touted, will be placed at the center of a collaborative combat environment called Air combat system of the future (Scaf). It will be connected to companion drones via a “combat cloud”, where artificial intelligence will have a wide range of action. This large-scale project was the subject of a government agreement, called IA3, between France, Germany and Spain. After a phase of feasibility studies known as 1A, the various parties agreed in August 2021 to finance phase 1B and phase 2, which should lead to the construction of a demonstrator in flight by 2025. An envelope of 8 billion euros is on the table, “but it will certainly cost ten times more to complete the project”, estimates a specialist in the sector.
“Both a battle between industrialists, but also between States”
Despite the pandemic, stakeholders showed their confidence last summer. But, in twelve months, the Scaf took the lead in the wing. At the heart of the difficulties: the leadership of the program, which is questioned. On the one hand, the aircraft manufacturer Dassault, on the strength of the success of its Rafale, believes that it is best placed to manage the flight controls, the nerve center of a fighter plane. On the other hand, Airbus Defense & Space, a company under German law which manufactures the Eurofighter, the main competitor of the Rafale in Europe, would like to share know-how in the name of strengthening cooperation between countries. Time passes and no one lets go.
“It is both a battle between manufacturers but also between States. Airbus is more naturally pushing for cooperation, with its culture of compromise, stemming from its activities in Germany, France and Spain. Dassault, which has already demonstrated openness on certain parts of the program, wishes to maintain a leadership posture in order to ensure the proper management of its industrial assets”, summarizes Laurent Deloire, Defense specialist at SIA Partners.
Obviously, in both camps, everyone has their own little word to mock the team opposite. Eric Trappier, who multiplies the spikes sent to his opponents, knows how to be virulent and threatening. On the sidelines of a trip to Mérignac (Gironde), at the end of June, the CEO of Dassault Aviation indicated that he was already working “on a plan B” in the event of failure with Airbus. “They have to accept that they are Dassault’s subcontractors for the combat aircraft […] We are the best athlete”, dropped the boss. “Airbus does not see itself as a supplier of Dassault, we are the main partner”, retorted its president Michael Schoellhorn in the press. As a result of this showdown, the file s enlise and Eric Trappier no longer hesitate to affirm that the entry into service of the aircraft by 2040 is compromised: “We have rather left for the 2050s”, he warned as part of the Paris Air Forum, in June.
“If we don’t make this plane, we will lose our independence”
In the meantime, the teams are at work. To the west of Paris, 2,000 Airbus employees are already designing future information and connectivity systems. “By 2040, the air combat sector will see somewhat the equivalent of the transition from telegraphy to the Internet, sums up Arnaud Vandame, system of systems manager at Scaf in Elancourt (Yvelines). Each plane or drone will be connected to a network secure and for some with a capacity approaching fiber optics when most current military aircraft operate only with tactical messaging”.
Nevertheless, the radio silence of the French and German executives does not encourage industrialists to be optimistic. “Ultimately, we will need a political decision. And the relative passivity of Paris is linked to the state of the country’s finances”, blows a source familiar with the matter. “If we don’t make this sixth-generation aircraft by 2040, we will lose our independence from the United States. Dassault does not want to let go of the know-how it has been developing for fifty years, and it’s true that, each time the Rafale and the Eurofighter have been in competition, Dassault has pocketed the bet”, recalls Xavier Tytelman, former fighter pilot and consultant at Aviation NXT.
There is no doubt that this subject will soon be on the menu of discussions between Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz. “There is still a small window of opportunity for the Scaf. But it is closing,” clinically warns Christian Cambon, chairman of the Senate Defense Committee. The future of European sovereignty is being played out now.