Dassault Aviation and the joint Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program have officially collapsed, with France and Germany formally scrapping the development of their shared sixth-generation New Generation Fighter (NGF). On June 8, 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz agreed to terminate the central joint fighter jet initiative, ending nearly a decade of industrial deadlock and clashing national requirements.
The original €100 billion pan-European program was designed as a “system of systems” intended to replace the French Rafale and the multi-nation Eurofighter Typhoon by 2040. However, unresolvable friction between the main industrial titans—France’s Dassault Aviation and Germany’s Airbus Defence and Space—permanently derailed the project. Why the Joint Fighter Project Collapsed
The failure of the joint fighter program stems from deep-rooted disputes over leadership, intellectual property, and fundamentally different military needs:
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