Paris Air Show 2025: Airbus says FCAS/SCAF ‘still possible' despite Dassault tensions

An NGF scale model was tucked away at the rear corner of the Dassault stand at the Paris Air Show 2025, mirroring a seeming malaise that hung over the wider FCAS/SCAF programme at the event. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Airbus has said that the tri-national Future Combat Air System (FCAS)/Système de Combat Aérien du Futur (SCAF) programme can still proceed to fruition, despite ongoing tensions with co-contractor Dassault.

Head of Air Power at Airbus Defence and Space (DS) Jean-Brice Dumont made the assertion at the Paris Air Show 2025, on the same day that Dassault CEO Eric Trappier heaped more coals on the simmering tensions between the two national contractors for Germany and France by again asserting that only his company has the skills to develop the New Generation Fighter (NGF) that sits at the core of the Next-Generation Weapon System (NGWS) that also includes an unmanned ‘loyal wingman' and a networking cloud.

“I wouldn't comment on what [Trappier] said [in his interview with Bloomberg], but any co-operation is not easy,” Dumont said on 17 June. “We do not challenge that Dassault is lead for Pillar 1 [the NGF] of the NGWS, but there is an allocated work share [for each of the partner companies] that is detailed by the governments. I believe that with smart work share and rules of engagement, it is possible [for the project to proceed], but the will has to be there.”

Janes requested a meeting with Dassault at the Paris Air Show 2025 to discuss FCAS/SCAF and other issues, but did not receive a response.