European Defense Giant Cautions Against Overly Aggressive Bet on Unmanned Future

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury sought to lower tensions around the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) fighter pillar, cautioning against an overly aggressive bet on an unmanned-only future. Faury emphasized that cooperation at scale is key to Europe’s competitiveness in defense. The New Generation Fighter (NGF) should not jeopardize the rest of FCAS, including work on connected sensors and remote carriers. According to AeroTime, Faury also acknowledged that governments are questioning diverging national requirements in the program, notably France’s need for a nuclear-capable, carrier-operable aircraft.