Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever on Tuesday slammed France and Germany for failing to agree on a joint program to build a new fighter jet.
“I was extremely disappointed to read that France and Germany cannot reach agreement on the development of a European sixth-generation airplane. What a waste of time, what arrogance,” he said at an event in Brussels, adding: “This is that we have chosen, to be irrelevant in a crucial part of air defense, not only now, but in a decade as well. This is pure stupidity.”
The Future Combat Air System, which also involves Spain, was meant to replace Germany’s Eurofighter and France’s Rafale jets by around 2040. Belgium is an observer member.
The program includes a warplane as well as drones and a combat cloud meant to link the aircraft with ground and satellite sensors.
On Monday, the German government said Paris and Berlin would stop working on the fighter jet component because of unsurmountable disagreements between France’s Dassault Aviation and Germany’s Airbus Defence and Space.
“Anyone who suggests that we can do it alone by developing a fighter plane … is simply ignoring reality,” the Belgian PM added. That’s a direct reference to Dassault CEO Eric Trappier’s repeated claims that France doesn’t need Germany to manufacture a warplane.
Trappier didn’t want Belgium to join FCAS because it bought American-made F-35 fighter jets, leading to a long-running dispute with successive Belgian governments.