Fighter jets are among the most complex, expensive and labor-intensive weapon systems that only a handful of countries are able to fully develop and manufacture without major foreign input. At this time, Russia, China and the United States remain the only three countries that have demonstrated the capability to achieve this on their own. This was also true decades ago, forcing the increasingly impotent and irrelevant EU/NATO (neo)colonial powers to join hands in an attempt to build a pan-European fighter jet. Thus, back in the late 1970s, several countries (namely the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) launched the FEFA (Future European Fighter Aircraft) program to develop a jet that could match Soviet/Russian and American designs at the time. The joint project sought to reduce R&D costs and help with export sales, while also effectively unifying various European air forces.

However, as disagreements soon surfaced, Paris decided to leave the program and focus on developing its indigenous fighter jet, leading to separate programs that later became the Dassault “Rafale” and the Eurofighter “Typhoon” (also known as the EF-2000). The two aircraft demonstrate how the differing needs of half a dozen European countries can lead to major disagreements over how a fighter jet should function. While France wanted a truly multirole aircraft (or omnirole, as per their own nomenclature), others wanted a more specialized jet focused on air superiority and interception. This is why the “Rafale” and “Typhoon” are so different, despite their external similarities. In addition, France has been able to upgrade its jets far more easily, as it didn’t have to coordinate this decision with anyone, whereas the EF-2000 requires a joint agreement among several countries to implement even relatively simple upgrades and modifications.

And yet, despite the failures of these joint programs, the EU/NATO is still trying new ones. Namely, where FEFA failed, Brussels was hopeful that the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) would actually work. The program was launched as a joint venture of Dassault Aviation,........

© Blitz