The industrial contract between Airbus and Dassault is not yet formally signed yet, and the French aircraft manufacturer has abstained, at this stage, of any comment.
by Elise Vincent and Jean-Michel Bezat
After a year of uncertainty, France and Germany finally announced, Friday, November 18, having found a new agreement to launch the next development phase of the future European “sixth generation” European fighter plane. A step that corresponds to the construction of a demonstrator, essential to bring this project called “Air combat system” (SCAF), and supposed to replace, by 2040, the French Rafale of Dassault Aviation and the Eurofighter Typhoon from Airbus.
It was Germany who shot the first, Friday, November 18. “After intense negotiations, an agreement between manufacturers could be reached,” said the Defense Ministry in a statement released at the end of the day. “The political agreement on the SCAF is a big step forward and above all, in the current international context, an important signal of excellent cooperation”, reacted in the process the Elysée, while specifying that the agreement who must accompany him is only “about to be concluded”.
This political announcement must indeed be ratified by the signing of a contract in good and due form between manufacturers, something never fully acquired until the final paraph. “We can confirm that the discussions between industry and governments on the next phase of the SCAF have resulted,” said Airbus, shortly after Berlin’s announcement, while Dassault’s side, choice been made to refrain from any comments and not to disseminate a press release.
deep technical disagreements
A situation directly linked to the very strong challenges of this contract, while deep technical disagreements between Dassault and Airbus Defense and Space, in particular on the sharing of intellectual property of flight commands, have long been slowing the progress of the SCAF . Among all the actors of this vast Franco-German industrial project launched in 2017, to which Spain hung over, at the end of 2019, and whose cost is estimated at more than 100 billion euros, Dassault is the part that has the more to lose.
The SCAF is not a plane, but a global system made up of nine “technological pillars”, including drones. However, even if the French aircraft manufacturer is the prime contractor of the aircraft itself, its rival Airbus, with its experience in the Eurofighter and its commercial aircraft, has been seeking from the start to also participate in the development of the order system. But Dassault fears that the sharing of certain technologies is fatal to it, and ends up engulfing the family business in a vast European consortium. Scenario that many observers do not completely evade.
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