Airbus Defence chief rules out total failure of FCAS fighter jet project

BERLIN, May 27 (Reuters) – The head of Airbus Defence ruled out the complete failure of the crisis-hit Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project, saying at least a networking system for weapons and drone programme would go ahead.

• Plans to develop the air combat system risk collapse due to a dispute over control between France’s Dassault Aviation and Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain in the €100-billion ($116 billion) project

• Airbus Defence chief Michael Schoellhorn said on Wednesday he saw some unbridgeable differences between Airbus and Dassault at the moment

• German, French defence ministries are working out how to move forward, said Schoellhorn. He hopes for a political decision before Berlin’s ILA air show on June 10

• He mentioned options of having two different fighter jets or a new European partnership but said Germany could not take on that project alone

• Two areas of the strategic project will go ahead, said Schoellhorn – a “Combat Cloud” to network weapon systems and a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) for drones to accompany fighter jets

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(Reporting by Markus WacketWriting by Madeline ChambersEditing by Ludwig Burger)