‘Arrogant' French have Belgium rethinking FCAS next-gen fighter jet project
Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken fired back at Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier – a major contractor in the FCAS programme – who had publicly stated that Belgium could not join the project if it also purchased America-made F-35 jets.
'The government will evaluate its position on the FCAS project', Francken said in a post on X, just days after Belgium announced its intention to fully join the initiative. 'As a founding member of NATO and the EU, a staunch ally and the host of the headquarters, we have no lessons to learn from arrogant industrialists.'
The Belgian government had moved to fully join the French-German-Spanish FCAS programme on Friday. The multi-billion-euro project is one of Europe's largest defence projects, with the aim of developing a next-generation air combat system centred around a fighter jet as well as drones and other complex support systems.
At the same time, Belgium has set out plans to fly both American-made fifth-generation F-35 fighters and the FCAS, which is scheduled to be operational by 2040 but which has already faced delays.
Trappier, who sees himself as the undisputed leader of the joint FCAS project, described the idea of operating both fighter types as incoherent and accused the Belgians of seeking to score jobs created by the programme while also buying "from the US".
Friction between Dassault and the main German partner in the project, Airbus Defence, has recently thrown the project into turmoil. The German and French defence ministers, who are meeting on Thursday, are expected to discuss the programme's troubles at length.
Belgium can't buy American F-35s and still join Europe's FCAS fighter jet programme, says French aviation chief
"If [Belgium] gives up the idea of buying F-35s, they'd be welcome," the CEO of Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier, has said.
(bts, aw)
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