France and Germany have agreed to develop a new generation European fighter jet together,
that will replace their current fleets. French President Emmanuel Macron called a
“revolution” in their defense relations.
A statement from the French presidency after talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and Macron in Paris said, ”The two partners hope to finalize a joint roadmap by mid-2018”.
Macron added that fighter jets are very heavy projects for our armies and our governments
and a joint European aircraft would help save money and remove competition between different
jets currently on the market. He further added that, “The aim of this
joint fighter jet project is to do research and development together… to use it together..
and to coordinate on exports”.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes the joint French & German 6th generation fighter.
Lets get started.
Dassault Rafales and Eurofighter Typhoon are currently the most advanced fighter jet deployed
by France & Germany respectively.
Rafale is a twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built
by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to
perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike,
anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale is referred to as an "omnirole"
aircraft by Dassault.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole fighter. Typhoon
program is a multinational collaboration among the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.The Eurofighter
Typhoon is a highly agile aircraft, designed to be a supremely effective dogfighter in
combat. Later production aircraft have been increasingly better equipped to undertake
air-to-surface strike missions and to be compatible with an increasing number of different armaments
and equipments.
Both Rafale & Typhoon is referred to as 4.5-generation fighters and there is no plan for a 5th a fighter.
U.S has moved ahead with deploying F 35 5th generation fighter apart from having F 22
Raptor. Several partners nations like the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada,
Turkey, Australia, Norway and Denmark and allies like Japan and Israel are also deploying
the fighters.
Russian 5th generation Su 57 has been unveiled last year and even made a short appearance
in Syria. Deigned by Sukhoi corporation, Su 57 is a stealth, single-seat, twin-engine
multirole fighter developed for air superiority and ground attack operations.
China has also deployed its own 5th generation J-20. Developed by Chengdu Aerospace Corporation,
it is as s a single-seat, twinjet, all-weather, stealth fighter aircraft.
The announcement of cooperation between France & Germany comes at a time when U.S President
Trump has been prodding Europe to do more with respect to defense and be less dependent
on America.
In late April of this year on the sidelines of an air show in Berlin , France & Germany
have signed a 10 page common requirements document that outlines the required capabilities
at a very high level.
The aircraft will have low-observable characteristics so that it can penetrate enemies air defenses.
The fighter will be equipped very powerful sensors including a synthetic aperture radar
that will be able to scan the airspace at long ranges.
These features are reminiscent of fifth-generation fighters, but the upcoming fighter is likely
to go far beyond and add many new capabilities. The fighter may have the ability to manage
stealthy drones deploying both kinetic weapons and electronic warfare systems—a concept
known as manned-unmanned teaming. It may also include laser weapons , advanced cybersecurity
to protect against hacking and AI enabled auto pilot.
Initial work on the jet will be started from this year itself and it is expected to be
operational by 2040. Apart from improving ties, pooling resources together makes sense
as developing a high profile fighter is very cost intensive and requires huge amount of
effort. The plane will be the first stealthy plane
developed in Europe. The idea is combine the technical prowess
of very capable companies like Airbus, Dassault, Thales, MBDA and Safran to develop a potent
fighter jet.
After the base work is done, the program could be expanded to include British firms like
BAE systems and Swedish firm Saab, which is the maker of JAS 39 Gripen.
It will be extremely important to have a solid management to get the coordination right and
if done in proper way the fighter could turn out to be world beater.