Paris, Berlin Emmanuel Macron was combative at the EU summit in Versailles. Europe, said the French President two weeks ago, will react consistently to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The additional billions for defense would have to flow primarily into European armaments, a defense community based on armaments imports “makes no sense”.
A day later, Germany announced that it would buy 35 American F-35 fighter jets. The aircraft, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, are to replace the outdated Tornado fleet. Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) said that the joint development of an air combat system (Future Combat Air System, FCAS) with France was still standing: “We also made that very clear to our French partner.”
But the purchase plans were met with astonishment in Paris. After all, the F-35 is one of the most modern combat aircraft in the world and could therefore be more than an interim solution until the planned FCAS operational readiness in 2040. On the German side, on the other hand, there is distrust that France, with the joint investments, is primarily concerned with the well-being of its domestic armaments industry in mind.
Joël Barre, head of the General Directorate of Armaments in the French Ministry of Defense, refers to Olaf Scholz’s commitment to FCAS, in which Spain is involved alongside France and Germany.
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They are “on the same wavelength” as the German government, and joint armament projects are a priority for both Berlin and Paris.
Berlin ordered 35 aircraft from Lockheed Martin – and thus caused irritation in France.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
In fact, when the Federal Chancellor announced the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr, he emphasized that “the next generation of combat aircraft and tanks will be built here in Europe together with European partners and especially France”.
In reality, however, cooperation in recent years has been anything but easy. Time and again, rivalries between the countries involved and the companies involved block progress in the projects. And the French were better able to assert their interests than the Germans – not least because the armaments industry in the Federal Republic was neglected by politicians.
Also thanks to the commitment of the Paris government, the prestigious FCAS order is being driven by the French company Dassault. The armaments arm of Airbus, which is primarily based in Germany, is a junior partner. Dassault and Airbus are currently bickering over the further division of labor. There is still no clarity about the next development phase, which is supposed to start in April.
Dassault boss Éric Trappier recently said: “For us, the additional demands from Airbus cross red lines.” France’s armaments director Barre admits: “The difficulty we have at FCAS is that we have to get two competing aircraft manufacturers to work together.”
At the EU summit in Versailles, the two statesmen underlined the importance of a common European defense. But the harmony is deceptive.
(Photo: Xinhua/eyevine/laif)
The cooperation with the “main ground combat system” (MGCS), behind which the future main battle tank is hidden, which is to replace the German Leopard 2 and the French Leclerc from 2035, is similarly cumbersome. Germany should actually be primarily responsible for this project.
Paris and Berlin commissioned a consortium consisting of the French company Nexter and the German companies Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall to develop it. With the merger of Nexter and KMW to form the defense technology group KNDS, the weight has shifted towards France, according to German defense experts. France’s armaments director Barre comments on the situation at the MGCS: “The project is progressing, but certainly not at an exceptional speed.”
The successor to the main battle tank is to be created in a Franco-German project.
(Photo: Roland Geisheimer / attenzione / Focus Agency)
The fact that Germany and France are still rivals in armaments is most evident in the naval shipyards. The French Naval Group has tried several times to take over the German competitor Thyssen-Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS). However, the federal government blocked the project, even when Thyssen-Krupp was willing to sell. The concern that the German locations would be closed and the activities would be relocated to France was too great.
>> Read also: Defense industry prepares higher production – Rheinmetall offers a package worth billionsGerman shipyard managers and defense politicians complained that France was striving for hegemony over the business. The Germans see themselves more on an equal footing with the Italians and the British. “A real partnership is possible there,” says a manager from the defense industry, who wished to remain anonymous. He was also told by the federal government not to tie itself closely to the French.
The manager emphasized that Airbus was given as a cautionary example. The group was formed through the merger of German and French companies. Once planned as a joint venture, Airbus is now more under French control – at least in the civil aviation sector. However, representatives of Airbus emphasize that the military division was integrated under pressure from the Germans. France actually wanted to set up a purely civilian European aircraft manufacturer.
Cross-border armaments projects can also become problematic when it comes to partially recovering the expensive development costs through exports. In the past there had always been friction, for example because Great Britain wanted to continue to deliver the “Eurofighter” built together with Germany, Italy and Spain to Saudi Arabia despite a German arms embargo.
According to the Federal Ministry of Defense, the export rules are laid down beforehand in government agreements in projects involving several nations. While France in its 2017 Revue Stratégique describes exports as “essential for a competitive defense industry and the maintenance of defense technology skills”, the SPD, Greens and FDP in Germany have agreed in their coalition agreement that the arms export rules should be at European and national level wherever possible want to handle more restrictively.
“We should be restrictive when it comes to exports from Europe,” said the security policy spokeswoman for the Greens parliamentary group, Sara Nanni, to the Handelsblatt. “If armaments then become more expensive for us, then that’s the way it is.” The costs can be recouped through increased joint procurement and greater interoperability.
More: Europe in crisis mode: A continent is arming itself