A MALE RPAS (Eurodrone) drone model seen at the ILA airshow in Berlin, Germany, in April 2018. The Eurodrone’s future is in question after the failure of the FCAS project, which had many of the same contractors. (Wikimedia Commons/DeffiSK)

The FCAS Program Died Last Week. Is the ‘Eurodrone’ Next?

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Dassault and Airbus, whose dispute doomed the FCAS, are now at each other’s throats over the shared MALE RPAS (or “Eurodrone”) project.

Days after French and German leaders officially declared the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program to develop a manned sixth-generation fighter was dead, the companies at the heart of the project appear to be gearing up for battle over a different program.

The French-based Dassault Aviation is now “seeking compensation” from Germany’s Airbus regarding the development of the “Eurodrone” joint drone project, according to Reuters.

The FCAS Crashed and Burned—Could It Bring Down the Eurodrone?

The two companies were unable to reach an agreement on workshare, intellectual property rights, and governance for the FCAS, which essentially killed the joint flagship fighter program. That dispute looks to inflame an already overwrought relationship between the two companies.

Dassault, which is best known globally as the manufacturer of the fourth-generation-plus “omnirole” Rafale fighter and the........

© The National Interest