European defense companies face fierce competition from their North American counterparts. American rivals such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics have a proven track record in the field and more efficient client management
Fremont, CA: Europe's largest arms project to date, Future Combat Air System (FCAS), was finalized on paper in May this year, when Germany, France, and Spain inked a framework for a partnership to build the same. Dassault Aviation and Airbus were assigned to build the new fighter jet while France based Safran and Germany’s MTU Aero Engines will take the lead on jointly developing the new warplane’s engine. While France and Germany want the first prototype of the fighter jet to take place in 2026, the manufacturers believe the new fighter jet will take to the skies only by 2040. The new fighter jet is expected to replace the French Rafale and Germany's Eurofighter Typhoon.
Meanwhile, the U.K. has been developing its Tempest stealth fighter project in collaboration with Sweden and Italy, with emerging interests from the Dutch. Britain's largest defense company BAE, luxury car manufacturer Rolls Royce, Italian defense firm Leonardo, and European missile maker MBDA have combined forces on the Tempest project. Despite France showing interest in the Tempest project, Brexit and strategic acquisition decisions have deepened European divisions, increasing skepticism about the future of European defense cooperation.
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Despite the common opinion that the Tempest project should merge with the Franco-German project at some point in time, the alliance seems less likely. The merging of the two projects would benefit the European defense and strategic autonomy. On the other hand, European defense companies face fierce competition from their North American counterparts. American rivals such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics have a proven track record in the field and more efficient client management. The value of the mega-merger between Raytheon and United Technologies (UTC) announced earlier this year has also been undermined.
Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet has drawn lots of interest from European NATO partners like Poland and Belgium, which critics believe to be bad news, as it tarnishes the efforts of Europe's reliance on U.S. equipment. The election of Donald Trump as the U.S. President and Brexit has worked in favor of Europe's ambition to develop a more autonomous E.U. defense strategy. Despite there being only two active projects in the European defense market at present, it still works better than the 1990s when multiple countries made use of numerous options. France found a political solution with Rafale, Sweden with Gripen, and Germany decided not to invest in the field at all. Experts believe it is this detrimental fragmentation in Europe that motivated countries like U.K., Italy, Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark to opt for the U.S. led program to develop the F-35 fighter jet.
In the ongoing scenario, it is unaffordable for Europe to undertake two projects as its 6th generation fighter plane. The current industry environment would not support this, and a potential convergence of the two projects is the best possible outcome. This would require France to drop its idea of bilateral cooperation with Germany and be open to strategic negotiations with the U.K., Italy, and Sweden. This would bring the six European economies with the most significant military and industrial assets on the same page, allowing them to pool their resources and work on combined projects.
From an economic point of view, having two competing projects within Europe is not at all reasonable. Further, the multiple contractors involved from different countries will only increase the divide between European nations. The current ideology in France is that military-strategic cooperation can be led bilaterally with Germany alone. However, it would not be apt to call such a scenario as a European collaboration.
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