Dassault Needs 80% of FCAS Workshare to Execute Delayed Program
Due to growing concerns over delays in the French-German-Spanish FCAS (Future Combat Air System) sixth-generation fighter consortium, France's Dassault Aviation has requested an 80% share of the workload, German publication Hartpunkt reported last week. The report stated that the company believes it has the expertise and technical capabilities to design the NGF (Next Generation Fighter), and German defense authorities have learned that the French government supports Dassault's view.
Raising Dassault's profile in the project would put it at odds with Airbus and Indra, representing Germany and Spain, respectively, on a project already mired in internal disputes over industrial work-sharing agreements and access to intellectual property. Both Hartpunkt and Reuters quoted German lawmaker Christoph Schmid of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as saying that this would be the "final nail in the coffin" for the project if France continued to press its demands.
As later revealed in French media reports, Dassault's proposal was not a public statement or informal communication to partner nations, but rather part of a broader feasibility report mandated by the FCAS/SCAF program itself. These companies are expected to provide recommendations on various aspects of the program.
Implications
FCAS (or SCAF - Système de combat aérien du futur - in French) is a 'system of systems' program, with work divided into several "pillars" representing each of its components. The first pillar is the NGF (Next Generation Fighter); a new generation of engines; a "long-range carrier" drone that will serve alongside the jet; and finally, the "combat cloud," a digital backbone for a multi-domain data network.
According to reports, the various subprojects have been divided 50-50 between Dassault Aviation, MBDA, and Indra. According to reports, France's push for an 80% share of the work will encourage Dassault to develop the fighter, with the engines being made by Safran through its EUMET joint venture with Germany's MTU Aero Engines and the sensors by Thales.
This will see Germany's MBDA and Spain's MBDA develop Combat Cloud and Remote Carriers, and Indra possibly develop sensors, electronics, avionics and payloads such as electronic warfare for drones.
