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Airbus backs governance of Franco-German-Spanish fighter

project

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CEO remarks come after Dassault called for clearer

leadership

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Fighter teamed with drones would replace current warplanes

by

2040

By Tim Hepher

PARIS, July 31 (Reuters) - Europe's Airbus

challenged its partner Dassault Aviation on Wednesday to

"decide what it wants to do" after Dassault questioned

arrangements for a new fighter, in the latest sign of tensions

over the Franco-German-Spanish project.

Dassault and Airbus, two industry rivals called on to work

together after French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German

Chancellor Angela Merkel launched the Future Combat Air System

(SCAF) initiative in 2017, have sparred repeatedly over the

running of the project to replace current warplanes by 2040.

Last week, Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier called for

clearer leadership of the project and accused Airbus of causing

delays by interfering in the core crewed fighter part of the

project known as Pillar One, which is led by Dassault.

Dassault represents France and Airbus is the anchor for

Germany and Spain in the project, which is currently in the

early design stage known as Phase 1B, with plans to launch a

second phase next year aimed at building a demonstrator.

"There is an agreed governance for the launch of Phase 1B;

we are in this governance," Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told

reporters at a mid-year results briefing on Wednesday.

"If in one pillar there is one industrial partner that is

not happy with the governance, they need to decide what they

want to do and I leave it to them," he said.

"But when it comes to Airbus, we intend to continue to serve

the countries and the ministries of defence that have contracted

us for Phase 1B, and we intend to continue on the programme. So

when it comes to Airbus, we keep going."

Dassault could not immediately be reached for comment.

Rising tensions have prompted concerns that the project

could fall apart, echoing France's decision to quit the

Eurofighter project in the 1980s and develop what became the

Rafale, though it still has significant political support.

Asked last week if Dassault was threatening to leave the

current project, widely known by its French initials SCAF,

Trappier said the programme's wider future was at stake.

"It is not a question of leaving SCAF but of deciding if it

continues or not," he said. He denied reports that Dassault was

seeking 80% control.

Under the current framework, the three nations have an equal

share of the broader project, but Airbus covers two-thirds since

it represents both Germany and Spain. Each company also has

day-to-day leadership of specific parts of the project, which

includes a connected system of drones teamed with each fighter.

Germany's defence minister Boris Pistorius said after

meeting his French counterpart last week that Germany and France

would seek to clarify the situation by the end of the year,

Defense News reported.