“German taxpayers’ money would be used to consolidate the European aviation industry unilaterally in France,” assesses Germany’s aerospace industries’ association
“German taxpayers’ money would be used to consolidate the European aviation industry unilaterally in France,” assesses Germany’s aerospace industries’ association
We all knew this was coming when Nexter and KMW were allowed to merge.
The common tank project which France needs to succeed was all that kept them invested in cooperation. Now that KNDS is covering the main part as one common French-German company they don’t need to pretend anymore and can continue to push hard for all FCAS development and production to be done in France by France for France, everyone else be damned.
That is dead, if FCAS dies. Neither Nexter nor KMW are willing to cooperate on anything besides the new mbt project. However Rheinmetall has the Panther, which is a pretty good tank and seems to enter production soon. So if FCAS fails, the Bundeswehr might well go for that as well leaving France in a pretty bad position.