Dassault Aviation has announced that the FCAS (Future Combat Air System) program, intended to eventually replace the Rafale and Eurofighter, is facing progress difficulties due to disagreements among its industrial partners.

Indeed, Paris and Berlin have differing requirements regarding the future combat aircraft. France needs an aircraft capable of carrying nuclear warheads while remaining light enough to land on an aircraft carrier, whereas Germany favors a larger aircraft, able to carry more armaments.

During the presentation of the 2025 results, CEO Éric Trappier spoke of a project that is stagnating and called for no more time to be wasted. He recalled that France was appointed in 2018 to lead the aircraft pillar of the program—called "Pillar 1"—and that Dassault Aviation was therefore to act as the prime contractor in a leadership role.

Tensions have since emerged with Airbus Germany, which is advocating for co-leadership and fears being relegated to the background. "Either you are the leader, or you are not," the Dassault Aviation executive emphasized, adding that developing a next-generation combat aircraft requires a clearly identified industrial leader to make technological decisions and ensure the system's coherence.

During the presentation of its results, Guillaume Faury, head of Airbus, acknowledged the persistence of blockages, which he attributed to "different expectations among partners regarding governance and the definition of leadership and cooperation."

While the idea of a two-aircraft solution is beginning to be sketched out by some, the head of Dassault is clearly reluctant, stating that France does not support this approach.

For his part, Guillaume Faury left the door open to this idea: "If our clients request it, we will support a two-combat-aircraft solution and we are committed to playing a leading role in the reorganization of FCAS, the result of European cooperation."
As the current phase of the program is supposed to lead to the construction of a flying demonstrator, Éric Trappier warned that any delay in the decision to move to the next stage could impact the overall project timeline.

"I repeat, Airbus does not wish to collaborate with Dassault. I understand that, Airbus wants to work alone [...]. I do not know if they have received a request from Germany that would have motivated these statements, but yes, this project is at a standstill. It is complicated," he said before warning: "If Airbus does not want to work with Dassault, the project may not come to fruition."