Germany's Airbus and France's Dassault Aviation have at last struck industrial agreements on development of Europe's Future Combat Air System after months of deadlock. Now the partner nations-France, Germany and Spain-are hoping to proceed with signing of multi-billion-euro contracts that should lead to development of a New-Generation Fighter (NGF) demonstrator, which is planned to fly in the second half of the decade. Getting this far has been anything but straightforward- and the preceding three weeks were almost as drama-filled as the rest of the project. When Airbus, Spain's Indra and the German government announced that the industrial partners had concluded negotiations on Nov. 18, there was an unsettling silence from Paris. Rather than confirming the agreement, Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier told a French radio station several days later that the German and Spanish pronouncements had been premature. When French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne appeared with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a Nov. 25 press conference and was asked about the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) status, her comments that progress had been made were later refuted by a Dassault spokesperson.
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