Airbus FCAS Shortfalls Drove Dassault's Governance Push: French Senator
Industrial failures within the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program have exposed fundamental governance tensions threatening one of Europe’s most ambitious defense initiatives. According to Senator Hugues Saury, co-rapporteur for France’s defense equipment program, technical shortcomings by Airbus Germany—specifically the subsidiary’s inability to produce required sub-assemblies—directly precipitated Dassault Aviation’s demands for enhanced leadership authority over the New Generation Fighter component. Saury’s remarks, delivered during a Senate budget hearing before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, provide rare official acknowledgment of the industrial obstacles undermining the tri-national partnership. “Airbus Germany was not able to carry out the technical sub-assemblies for which it had responsibility,” Saury stated, emphasizing that this production failure created cascading consequences across engineering teams and project coordination.