Airbus suggests split solution for Europe’s faltering fighter jet programme

Airbus has suggested splitting Europe’s faltering future fighter jet programme into two separate warplanes, amid a dispute between manufacturers over who leads the €100bn (£87bn) project.The company’s defence arm – which represents Germany and Spain – and the French partner, Dassault Aviation, are locked in a battle over the jet part of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a wide-ranging project that will also include autonomous drones and a futuristic “combat communications cloud”.Guillaume Faury, Airbus’s chief executive, said on Thursday that the deadlock over the planned next-generation jet “should not jeopardise the entire future of this hi-tech European capability, which will bolster our collective defence.“If mandated by our customers, we would support a two-fighter solution and are committed to playing a leading role in such a reorganised FCAS delivered through European cooperation.”Earlier this week, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, signalled that the planned warplane did not suit Germany’s needs, in the latest blow to the project. The German military does not need a nuclear-capable fighter, while France does, he said on the German political podcast Machtwechsel, insisting it was “not a political dispute” but a technical one between the two countries.Europe’s FCAS, announced in 2017, has faced repeated hurdles amid Airbus and Dassault’s power struggle and, more recently, over what the French and German governments want from the project. Germany, France and Spain are expected to decide soon whether to move to the next stage of the programme as planned, or drop the jet and move forward with the other elements.“We’ve spent a lot of time and energy to support this programme that has a number of pillars. The so-called next-generation fighter is one of those pillars, and it’s important to say that the other pillars are working well and making good progress,” Faury said.He added that while the project was at a “difficult juncture … We continue to believe that the programme as a whole makes sense.“We believe if there is a way forward with two fighters, it could be an opportunity to have other partners with us, but it belongs to our customers to decide with whom they want to join forces.”Airbus said its annual profit jumped 23% to €5.2bn last year, but shares fell 6% on Thursday after supply chain problems forced it to cut ambitious production targets for its passenger jets.The US engine maker Pratt & Whitney had failed to keep up with demand for its bestselling A320 model, Airbus said, adding that it was facing “significant shortages” of engines as a result.The world’s largest planemaker was hoping to ramp up the production of the A320 to 75 planes a month next year, up from 60 currently, but it may now fall short, it said. Airbus plans to deliver about 870 jets to customers this year, up from 793 in 2025.The supply issue compounds Airbus’s issues with the A320 after it found a problem with the fuselage panels that forced it to inspect hundreds of jets in December.Airbus’s deliveries in January sank to their lowest point in any month since 2020, which Faury said was down to the inspections. The drop has helped its rival Boeing, which after years of crises delivered 600 commercial jets, its highest number since 2018.