The French military officially signed on Friday the contract to develop a new European fighter jet, a key project towards integrating the continent’s military capabilities and reducing its dependence on American equipment. French and German officials announced the deal last month after months of contention over how to divide industrial jobs for stealth delta-wing aircraft.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and French Dassault Aviation will collaborate with Indra from Spain and a number of subcontractors on the project, called Future Combat Air System, against the rival Tempest project run by the UK, Italy, Sweden and Japan.

“This historic contract worth 3.2 billion euros [3,4 мільярда доларів] “Work on the FCAS demonstrator and its components will span about three and a half years,” the companies said in a statement.

Analysts estimate that the development of the new jet and its advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence for a connected “cloud of war”, will cost 100 billion euros by 2040.

“This is a big step forward in an important project aimed at protecting our strategic interests,” said French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu. said.

Following the completion of the development phase, known as 1B, the countries will discuss the actual construction phase of the jets, with the first demonstration flights expected in 2028 or 2029.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron, when the deal was announced last time, said, “The political agreement on FCAS is a big step forward and – especially in the current international context – an important sign of excellent cooperation between France, Germany and Spain.” moon.

So far, no other European country has agreed to build the new aircraft, and a previous Franco-German plan to build a joint fighter aircraft has failed, leading to the development of the Rafale and Eurofighter jets now in use.

Many people were also worried when Germany announced an agreement to purchase 35 F-35 jets from the US firm Lockheed Martin in Paris last March. The planes have been approved to carry US nuclear warheads stored in Europe as part of the NATO defense alliance – new Franco-German planes should too. Source