(Allow me a wall of text)
My POV is:
It has a lot to do on the Geopolitical matters in the EU.
During the 2000s we were the ones sinking the EU with Berlusconi, when Germany was weaker and still doing Schröder reforms we decided to step on the brakes by allying with the UK in place of pushing for more union matters(political/fiscal union). For example Belgium back then was getting flooded by Afghans we could have reformed the refugee dublin treaty twenty years ago when the central countries were pushing for it. Now we get flooded by economic migrants. But if we were the bad guys of the first 10years of the EU the Germans were the "villain" for the next decade.
Whose irresponsible behavior is at the core of the region’s slow-motion disaster?
www.nytimes.com
The HWR ( Berlin School of Economics and Law ) had a paper (i can find it if you need it) on the Euro effect on German export, and it was a factor of 12.5%-25% range. Consider Germany being the strongest exporter in the world and you can imagine how valuable is that factor. (Its trade balance
List of countries by current account balance - Wikipedia).
Plus German politics reflects on the rest of the EU. For example on the Greek Crisis, in February 2010 we could have stopped everything with just 10bln Euros, to show that no matter what we wouldn't have let Greece fail, we would have reestablished the trust in the Greek Bank System (That was in French and German hands). The French agreed immediately the Germans didn't.
Because there were elections in one of the main Germany lands, so we had to wait for German election purposes May-June 2010
, the cost of the bail out skyrocketed to 300bln...
Or the fact they welcomed the Syrians opening an hell migration scenario because they needed skilled workers (in place of paying more theirs, Germany is one of the most unequal country on the wealth aspect in Europe) . You can see it in this Economist Graph.
So what i want to say?
FCAS is in poor words a counterbalance of German Economic policies in favor of France. For that reason the French used stronger tones on the FCAS, they werent looking for partners, they were looking for clients. They know the Germans are going to pay the bill, and if not they can always remind the Germans they can oppose them on political matters.
Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier has stressed that no more countries can be admitted to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme being co-developed by France, Germany and Spain for fear of delaying the effort.
www.flightglobal.com
View News at Defense World
www.defenseworld.net
The lead contractors for Germany and France are Airbus and Dassault respectively. Spain designated Indra as their national prime contractor last August, but a work-share agreement between the three companies and their subcontractor clusters has proven elusive. Madrid has lobbied to be treated as an equal partner on both, government and industry level. Relevant agreements were signed between the three countries last year.
A week ago, Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury, remarked that the Spanish government must rectify its “mistake” of choosing Indra over Airbus. In his opinion, Indra is a sensors and equipment producer that lacked capabilities in airplanes, drones and satellites.
Just in case this is my personal opinion and point of view
But you can see this on the German probable decision to go for the F-18 and not the F-35 just to not anger Paris.
Put all this heavy political dynamics on the FCAS project. French and German attitude of the past. The fact that they are behind on the technological side since neither of them has the F-35.
IMHO the Tempest has a clear advantage.
Yes we lack the German economical power to finance the Jet, but I still want to see German taxpayer to pay for a Nuclear Able Naval Strike version of the FCAS....
So im ultra happy we are in with the UK/Sweden and Japan
and i want to be as far away as possible from those "toxic" dynamics of the other "team".
I'm pretty positive on the outcome. We have to play it safe, since they are in a "follower" position, so Team Tempest IMHO has to aim to not be too ambitious but to commit the least amount of errors possibles. Because it is already crazy to have two fighters in Europe for the 6th generation, surely there wont be two for the 7th, and there will be wild rationalizations of the industry. There is a lot at stake.
I hope i didn't bore You too much with this wall of text.
Just in case I have nothing against the Germans, we Italians are the main factors of our own destiny, Germans have nothing to do with our stagnating productivity of the last 30years for example.
www.defensenews.com
