A few days after the announcement that the German government was abandoning the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), both German and Spanish companies said on Thursday 11 June that they were willing to work on the future European air combat system.
Believing that development of the integrated sixth-generation fighter requires a new, efficient industrial organisation, eight German defence and aerospace companies announced that they were joining forces to form ‘Team Gen 6’.
“This partnership brings together the expertise, experience and capabilities which, together with those of other European partners, are essential for the development and deployment of a sixth-generation fighter”, said Airbus Defence and Space, AUTOFLUG, Diehl Defence, HENSOLDT, Liebherr, MBDA Germany, MTU Aero Engines and Rohde & Schwarz in a statement.
They explain that integrating such combat aircraft, as well as other existing and future platforms, manned or unmanned, into the “system of systems” will constitute Europe’s future air combat system.
Six Spanish defence and aerospace companies also announced a similar initiative to that of their German counterparts. Airbus, GMV, Grupo Oesia, Indra Group, ITP Aero and Sener thus signed a joint declaration of commitment in support of the FCAS programme “as a flagship European project and to support Spain and Europe in the event of the programme being reconfigured”.
According to that declaration, Spanish industry is making its capabilities and resources available to Spain and its potential partners for the development of a next-generation combat system.
That system will include a sixth-generation fighter aircraft, unmanned platforms or carriers, advanced communications, and sensors that will form a ‘system of systems’ thanks to the combat cloud, the companies said in a statement.
The aim would be for a next-generation combat system to enter into service around 2040. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)