French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he has “no doubts” about the joint Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project despite scepticism from Germany.
Speaking during a visit to New Delhi, Macron said he supports plans for the new fighter jets, which are under development by France, Germany and Spain.
The FCAS is due to enter operation in 2040 and designed to fly in conjunction with drones, ultimately replacing Germany’s Eurofighter and France’s Rafale fighter jets.
Macron’s comments came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the project has a “real problem” due to differing requirements for the German and French militaries.
This could require the FCAS to develop different fighter jet models. “If we can’t solve that, then we can’t maintain the project,” Merz told the Machtwechsel (“Change of Power”) podcast on Wednesday.
The French president took a different view.
“If we Europeans have a sense of history, we have an interest in standardizing and simplifying – in other words, in having a common model,” he said on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
Macron admitted there had been friction between the companies tasked with carrying out the project, but said efforts must be stepped up.
“We need to have a European standard,” he argued. “If we create a common standard, it will be unstoppable.”