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Future Combat Air System

The Future Combat Air System (FCAS), (French: Système de combat aérien du futur; SCAF; German: Zukünftiges Luftkampfsystem; Spanish: Futuro Sistema Aéreo de Combate; FSAC) is a European combat system of systems under development by Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Indra Sistemas. The FCAS will consist of a Next-Generation Weapon System (NGWS) as well as other air assets in the future operational battlespace. The NGWS's components will be remote carrier vehicles (swarming drones) as well as a New Generation Fighter (NGF) - a sixth-generation jet fighter that by around 2045 will replace current France's Rafales, Germany's Typhoons and Spain's EF-18 Hornets.

A test flight of a demonstrator is expected around 2027 and entry into service around 2045.

Contractors

Dassault will serve as prime contractor for the NGF, while Airbus will lead the development of accompanying remote carrier vehicles and the broader system's supporting combat cloud. It will also be carrier-capable and will fly from the French Navy's future aircraft carrier. Safran Aircraft Engines will be the prime contractor for the next-generation fighter aircraft engine, taking the lead in engine design and integration, while MTU Aero Engines, as the main partner for the first phase of research and technology, will take the lead in engine services.

Each country has designated a national industrial coordinator, Airbus for Germany, Indra for Spain and Dassault for France.

History

The FCAS concept was developed in the frame of the ETAP European Technology Acquisition Programme that was started in 2001 as a co-operation between Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden and Spain. The new FCAS concept was a System of Systems (SoS) approach combining manned and unmanned systems, combat aircraft and UCAV, to be more efficient in the envisaged future scenarios than operating with manned systems alone.

In 2017 Germany and Spain asked Airbus to start working on a proposal for a new fighter under the name Future Combat Air System (FCAS).

At the 2018 ILA Berlin Air Show, Dassault Aviation and Airbus announced an agreement to cooperate on the development of the FCAS.

In December 2018, the German Defence Ministry welcomed Spain's expression of interest in the programme.

In June 2019 Spain joined the programme.

In June 2023, Belgium became an observer to the FCAS programme. The country is set to join the programme by June 2025.

In December 2019 Safran and MTU Aero Engines agreed on the foundation of a 50/50 joint venture that will be incorporated by the end of 2021 to manage the development, production, and the after-sales support activities of the new engine to power the NGF.

On 12 February 2020, the first phase (1A) of the research and development program was approved by the German parliament budget committee. It set up the industrial distribution of the first five subprograms.

Development

Initial demonstrator

Phase 1A - Initial framework contract

Dassault, Airbus, together with their partners MTU Aero Engines, Safran, MBDA and Thales, were awarded the initial framework contract which launches the demonstrator phase. Beginning February 2020 it is expected to cover a period of 18 months of research and development. While it assigned different roles to the above-mentioned companies, Spain was left out:

New Generation Fighter (NGF), with Dassault Aviation as prime contractor and Airbus as main partner
Unmanned systems Remote Carrier (RC) with Airbus as prime contractor and MBDA as main partner
Combat Cloud (CC) with Airbus as prime contractor and Thales as main partner
Engine with Safran and MTU Aero Engines as main partner