France and Germany scrap fighter jet in hit to European defence cooperation

France and Germany have announced that they are to scrap a landmark project to jointly develop a sixth-generation fighter jet.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Monday that the project was being terminated. The development is a major blow to efforts to boost defence cooperation between European Union states, which has become a key issue amid uncertainty cast by President Donald Trump over the readiness of the United States to help defend NATO allies.

The Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project, which was expected to cost around $116 billion, reportedly fell apart after France’s Dassault Aviation and Airbus, which represented Germany and Spain in the project, failed to agree on lead and control. Rivalries between the two firms are believed to have been a major factor in the breakdown of negotiations.

Macron’s office said it would continue to explore other potential European military ventures.

“The German ⁠authorities considered that it was not possible to put further pressure on the ⁠companies concerned,” the Elysee said in a ⁠statement.

“The French authorities ⁠will continue to encourage our companies and armed forces to explore ways and ‌means of pursuing ambitious European projects that are consistent with ‌our national ‌security interests,” it added.

The plan was initially launched in 2017, with Spain joining the project two years later, with the aim of developing a fighter jet that would replace French Rafale warplanes and the Eurofighter flown by the British, German and Spanish air forces among others, by around 2040.

The new jet was to be accompanied by newly built drones and a high-security combat data cloud.

Both France and Germany have repeatedly tried to salvage the project. Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed the issues just last week.

The EU has struggled for years to cooperate on defence matters, with much of the opposition due to concerns over the effect on NATO. However, the calls for the bloc to agree a coordinated security strategy have grown as uncertainty regarding the US increases.

Trump has for years cast doubt over the US stance on the military alliance. That has raised significant worries as Russia has pursued its aggression in Ukraine, and fears have risen that that war risks spilling across the eastern borders of the EU and NATO.

The US president’s threats that he could even use military action to take control of Greenland from NATO partner Denmark has only raised the alarm.

After lambasting European NATO partners for failing to spend enough on defence, and calling on them to reduce their reliance on the US for military protection, Trump’s disapproval has risen in recent weeks as European states have criticised the US-Israeli war on Iran and refused to join the conflict.