Artist's concept of FCAS.
LE BOURGET–The air chiefs of the three Future Combat Air Systems (FCAS) nations–France, Germany, and Spain–have agreed to a joint vision for collaborative air combat.
The document was signed by French Air Force commander Gen. Stéphane Mille and his German and Spanish counterparts, Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz and Gen. Javier Salto Martínez-Avial, on June 21 at the Paris Air Show here. It confirms the direction of development by industry and aligns the three nations on how they see the Next Generation Fighter (NGF) at the heart of the FCAS program.
The NGF will act as a so-called Command Fighter, with the pilot onboard able to take control of elements of the air battle controlling unmanned components and performing a command-and-control function. It also confirms the use of uncrewed remote carrier systems to “create unpredictability and confuse the enemy” and the creation of a mesh-like combat cloud, which is redundant and uses heterogeneous networks.
“We collectively believe that those who both master collaborative technologies and are able to connect large alliances will win,” Maj. Gen. Jean-Luc Moritz, the French Air Force’s FCAS chief, said at the signing ceremony. He said the document highlighted the challenges to design a new-generation weapons system that is “fit for this future collaborative combat.”
Also attending the ceremony was Belgian air chief Maj. Gen. Thierry Dupont, following his country’s decision to become a program observer.
Asked if his views aligned with those of the other air chiefs, he quipped, “I am just observing.”
The document also enables the acceleration of some of the developed collaborative technologies should they be needed for the current generation of combat aircraft, Mille said.
Industry officials have suggested that some nations may want to bring forward the development of the remote carrier capability to increase air force mass, but also build an understanding of the capability before FCAS is introduced in the 2040s.
