Dassault dispute with Airbus threatens fighter project

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June 20, 2025
3 min read

Dassault dispute with Airbus threatens fighter project

Industrial issues between Dassault and Airbus are impacting the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) the two companies find it difficult to get on the same wavelength over the ongoing technology development phase, a top Airbus official has revealed.

“Clearly, we have observed with this [1B] phase, difficulties in the execution and facing the problem there are different ways to look at it, different types of problem statements,” Jean-Brice Dumont, Airbus Defence and Space’s head of air power at, told reporters at a company media briefing at Le Bourget. “We have to go faster. I think that’s one key motto of the program. We have to accelerate.” While “we are not stopping [phase 1B], we are reflecting on how to do it differently to ensure that we meet the scheduled objectives that the nations have set us,” Dumont said.

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Phase 1B involves Dassault and Airbus settling on what the next generation fighter planes and new drones would look like. These comments come in the wake of Dassault CEO Eric Trappier’s interview with Bloomberg, pushing for his firm to have more control over the project.

Trappier has shared his doubts over the structure of the FCAS program with lawmakers in France back in April. He criticised Airbus over a delay in signing the Phase 1B contract. A new agreement is planned for Phase 2 in 2026, with the aim of kicking off the development of demonstrators.

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