Rather than joining forces, the International Aeronautical and Space Fair, which was held from June 16 to 22 at Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis), the European divisions in defense appear. Symbol of these: The Air Combat system of the future (SCAF) which must replace, by 2040, the Rafale de Dassault Aviation and the Eurofighter, the fighter made by Airbus, the British Bae Systems and the Italian Leonardo.
Launched in July 2017 by France and Germany, then joined by Spain, in 2019, and Belgium, in 2024, this as “observer”, this complex project combines a sixth generation plane (“Next Generation Fighter”NGF), drones of different sizes and means of communication, all controlled by a protected computer brain (combat cloud). Budget announced: between 50 and 80 billion euros, according to an information report from the Senate of 2020. But public dissensions between the two main industrialists involved in the development of the NGF, Dassault Aviation and Airbus, the latter speaker through its German and Spanish subsidiaries, are increasingly fearing a break.
“If people want the SCAF to exist, we all know how to do it. Just go back to what has been agreed and stick to it. But if people think we have to go back to square one and start the whole discussion again, it is not acceptable ”explains Michael Schoellhorn, the general manager of Airbus Defense and Space, met on June 19, at the Bourget show.
Rather than ” people “Mr. Schoellhorn could have said Dassault Aviation. Three days earlier, in Le Figaronewspaper belonging to the Dassault family, Eric Trappier, the CEO of the Rafale manufacturer, had called for a change of direction: “The NGF has an original governance. We are three around the table with a distribution of the workload by third party: one for Dassault Aviation, designated by States as the project manager, one for Airbus Germany and one for Airbus Spain. We are therefore in the minority, which singularly complicates the exercise of leadership. If the States want us to go later, we will have to change governance. »»
You have 63.27% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
Source: Lemonde