“Can grumble”
Dispute over FCAS: Dassault boss turns against Germany
From AFP,, Reuters,, T-online
23.09.2025 – 6:56 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Actually, the fighter jet FCAS should become the Franco-German showcase project. Now it is tremendously around the partners involved.
In the dispute over the development of the future Franco-German fighter jet FCAS, the French side is now shared against Germany. “If you want to do it alone, you should do it,” said the head of the French armaments company Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier, on Tuesday. He thus aimed at the German company Airbus, with which there have long been tension in the common armaments project.
“The Germans can grumble calmly. We know how to do it,” said Trappier, referring to persistent disagreements. When asked whether Dassault could build a new generation fighter jet all by itself, he said: “The answer is.”
But the Paris company is now mobilizing. “We know from A to Z how to do it. We have been proving this for 70 years. We have the skills,” emphasized Trappier. He remains open to collaborations, “also with the Germans”, he added. Trappier had already demanded a more important role for his company in the project several times. “A leader is necessary, an architect,” he demands. It is also a matter of being able to decide on the suppliers.
The project has long since been considered a symbol of Franco-German cooperation. It is also about the evidence of the performance of a European armaments industry. The EU Commission of Ursula von der Leyen has suspended around 150 billion euros to advance arms projects in Europe. The FCAS has been working on FCAs since 2017. Competitors such as Bae Systems and Saab have long since been rushed.
