Will the agreement between Dassault and Airbus to (finally) launch the Scaf program be approved before the end of the year? According to the echoes, the case is progressing positively. This is confirmed by sources from BFM Business who assure that the two manufacturers are on the way to an agreement to relaunch the program that has been skating for a year.
For Airbus, as for Dassault, there is no alternative, otherwise European air defense would fall into the hands of the United States and China. Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation, has constantly reminded us of this following the 11 European country contract with Lockheed Martin for the F-35s. But this time, the warning was made by Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus in an interview with handelsblatt.
This warning message is obviously directed at its partner-competitor Dassault Aviation, as well as the French and German governments, who will have to do everything they can to help speed up the project financially and administratively. But it is mainly to Berlin that the message is directed, echoing the reproaches of the German arms manufacturers towards their government.
Without industrial compensation
In an article published by the weekly WirtschaftsWoche discovered by specialized site opex360the defense industry fears that the 100 billion euro fund released by the government will end up in the United States.
According to the BDLI, the German aviation employers’ association, dependence on the United States could endanger German industrialists. The group is based on the F-35 contract signed by Germany in which the German government did not demand any industrial consideration.
“Shopping Spree in the United States”
An industrialist describes recent contracts for 35 F-35s, 5 Poseidon maritime patrol boats and 60 Chinook transport helicopters as “US purchases” and all this without any benefit to German industry.
The latter fears that Germany will lock in arms with the United States as it did with Russia for energy or with China for electronic components.
Regarding the Scaf program, another risk is to be feared with Tempest, a competing European program launched by the United Kingdom, Sweden and Italy with technological support from Japan.
Last July, at the Farnborough Air Show, the British Ministry of Defense announced that a demonstrator of this device will be ready to fly before 2030 and that it will equip the Royal Air Force from 2035.
An almost identical schedule had been planned for the Scaf. In 2021, Florence Parly, then Minister of the Armies, expected the creation of a demonstrator in 2027 and the entry into service in 2040. Will this date be realized? In June, during the Paris Air Forum, Eric Trappier estimated that the Scaf could be significantly behind schedule.
Source: BFM TV
