The study contract to carry out a demonstrator of the Air Combat System of the Future (SCAF) was notified by the Ministry of the Armed Forces of France, pilot of the project that also brings together Germany and Spain, the manufacturers announced this Friday.
For a value of 3,200 million euros, divided equally between the three States, the contract aims to fly a prototype of the combat aircraft that will replace the French Rafale and the German Eurofighter by 2029 and by 2040, according to the joint press release. from Airbus, Dassault Aviation, Indra and Eumet.
“Paving the way for the development phase of the program, this Demonstration Phase 1B will enable further development and maturation of the advanced technologies required for demonstrator flights, as well as consolidation of project architectures, with in-flight demonstrations. planned in the next phases for 2028-2029”, explain the industrialists.
rivalries
A larger program for the three countries, the project had been blocked since August 2021 due to rivalries between Dassault Aviation, responsible for pillar 1, that of the combat aircraft themselves, and its partner Airbus, which represents the interests of Berlin and Madrid.
More than just a next generation fighter (NGF), the program is a “system of systems” that revolves around the aircraft with its accompanying drones, all connected, via a “combat cloud” linked to the other military assets involved in an operation. The scale of the project -100,000 million euros, according to experts- is such that it must be designed at a European level, it is not possible to carry it out at a national level.
Source: BFM TV
