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Berlin blames French industry for blocking progress

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Lawmaker says leaving project would not be a catastrophe

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Germany could find other options to develop fighter jet

By Sabine Siebold

BERLIN, Aug 27 (Reuters) - The German government must

swiftly decide whether to proceed with the development of a

Franco-German fighter jet or leave the project, a prominent

member of the German parliament's defence committee told Reuters

on the eve of high-level talks.

Berlin blames French industry for blocking the next phase in the

development of the FCAS program by demanding sole leadership of

the project, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The differences could jeopardise the launch of the second phase,

namely developing airworthy demonstrators, that had originally

been scheduled for the end of this year, according to defence

sources.

The topic will come up in talks between French President

Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and their

ministers on the Mediterranean coast on Thursday and Friday.

"If we don't get a decision at Toulon to enter phase 2,

everything becomes more and more difficult," Christoph Schmid, a

member of the German parliament's defence committee and Defence

Minister Boris Pistorius' Social Democrats, said on Wednesday.

"The longer a decision is delayed, the more unrealistic an

implementation of FCAS becomes."

With an estimated cost of more than 100 billion euros ($117

billion), the project involves France's Dassault Aviation

, Airbus and Indra. For years, it has

suffered from infighting over workshare and intellectual

property rights and been repeatedly delayed.

Schmid cited the example of the Eurofighter, which was a

joint success story for Germany, Britain and Italy, without

France being involved.

"It would not be a catastrophe for Germany and France to

part ways now if this is in the national or European interest,"

he said, while lobbying for ordering an additional 60

Eurofighter jets by 2029 to replace the country's ageing Tornado

fleet.

He said such a decision could provide the basis to consider

alternative options together with the industry regarding the

kind of fighter jet development possible by the mid-2030s.

"This gives us the chance to, step by step, make progress on

the way to the development of a generation 5 plus fighter jet,"

he said. "The outcome could be a further development of the

Eurofighter, a national product, a participation in GCAP or a

cooperation with a completely different partner such as Sweden."

The German defence ministry did not immediately respond to a

request for comment.

GCAP is a rival project in which Britain, Italy and Japan

are seeking to develop, design and build an advanced stealth

jet.

Sebastian Schaefer, a Greens member of parliament's budget

committee, called on Pistorius to address the problems caused by

French industry.

"Everyone is talking about joint procurement but we are not

getting it done, even though we have endless funds now," he

said.

"It is not enough to just blame the industry. Minister

Pistorius needs to talk with the industry - and with his friend

(French Defence Minister Sebastien) Lecornu as well."

($1 = 0.8542 euros)