Germany sets mid-April deadline for troubled fighter project with France

BERLIN, March 19 (Reuters) – The German government has set a mid-April deadline for reaching an agreement with France on the crisis-hit ‌FCAS fighter programme, a government official said on Thursday.

“Germany and France have agreed on a final attempt at mediation between the industries, to be carried out by experts,” the official said.

“Due to the upcoming decisions on the federal budget, a result must be reached by mid-April,” the official added.

The news comes after French President Emmanuel Macron and ​German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met late Wednesday ahead of a March 19-20 EU leaders’ summit.

Plans to develop a futuristic air combat system together with Spain are hanging by a thread amid a public dispute over control between France’s Dassault Aviation and Airbus, which ​represents Germany and Spain in the 100-billion-euro project.

Speaking in Brussels ahead of an EU leaders’ summit, Macron referred to the project as “strategically sound” and said his government would push the industries to reach an agreement.

“We have jointly decided to launch a rapprochement mission between Airbus and Dassault in the coming weeks, which must be conducted in a calm and respectful manner in order to find the right paths toward convergence,” he said.

Current plans call for a digitally connected array of crewed fighters and combat ​drones to replace the Dassault Rafale and Airbus-backed Eurofighter from 2040. Manufacturers have fallen out over the next phase involving ​a flying demonstrator.

Dassault is pressing for clearer control of the core fighter part of the project, including choice of suppliers, while offering the ‌same ⁠latitude to Airbus on the parts where it is already nominally in the lead.

Airbus has said existing accords calling for equality between partners should be kept.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Gianluca Lo Nostro, writing by Friederike Heine, editing by Madeline Chambers, Alexandra Hudson)