Belgian Def Min says European FCAS Fighter 'not coming'

Belgium,currently an observer in the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program has stated that the program is now defunct.

"A French-German-Spanish sixth-generation fighter jet will not be coming. The water is too deep for that, as has been apparent for months and is now confirmed by Chancellor Merz," The Belgian Defense Minister ,Theo Francken stated in a post on X .

Belgium plans to commit to boosting it's air combat capability through the U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, announcing plans to order 11 additional aircraft.

France,Germany and Spain were to finalise the FCAS plans by the end of last year but postponed the decision indefinitely due to disagreements with the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pointing out that Germany does not need the same fighter jets as France.

The FCAS program was envisioned as a System of Systems pairing manned and unmanned aircrafts and a networked decision making system. The aircraft was expected to replace Germany’s Eurofighter and France’s Rafale from around 2040, and estimated to cost more than €100 billion over its lifetime.