THis from french Media http://www.opex360.com/2021/06/06/aviat ... r-le-scaf/
This one from a German one (NTv)What's more, Germany has questioned the division of labor as it had been envisaged. "You know that this is a project under French leadership, but it is still necessary for the German partners to be at a satisfactory level with their [French] counterparts. So we need to look very carefully at the issues of industrial property, task sharing and leadership sharing," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the end of a Franco-German defense council on February 5.
On this point, Mrs. Merkel was merely reporting the Bundestag's reservations about defending the interests of German industry in this project. Already, in February 2020, German MPs had their ears pulled back to vote for the launch of Phase 1A of the SCAF.
Finally, after a thinly veiled threat from Dassault Aviation to implement a "plan B" if it did not have all the levers it considered necessary to fulfill its role as prime contractor for the NGF while preserving its intellectual property, the industrialists finally came to an agreement. They then submitted a proposal to the three countries concerned.
On May 17, the latter announced the "finalization of discussions on the content of the next phase of the program". This, according to industry sources quoted by Challenges, was probably premature. "There is no agreement on the budget, nor on intellectual property," said one of them. It is a "communication posture" and a "mendacious statement", denounced another...
In any case, the agreement on Phase 1B still has to be validated by the Bundestag's Finance Committee, ideally by the end of June, i.e. before the end of the parliamentary session and the start of the campaign for the German federal elections next September.
In the meantime, the influential weekly Der Spiegel has had access to two confidential documents that are highly critical of the SCAF. The first, written by experts from the Bundeswehr's Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support [BAAINBw], says the Phase 1B agreement "needs to be renegotiated from a technical and economic point of view" because "in its current form" it is "not ready to be signed.
According to Der Spiegel, the BAAINBw believes that there is a "significant risk that critical technologies will not be sufficiently mature in time" and that "deadlines cannot be met".
In addition, the report argues that "innovative technological approaches" are "difficult to identify," meaning that there is also a risk that "critical technologies will not be considered at all or will be considered in later phases without being financially viable."
Finally, the BAAINBw experts argue that the "structures and rules" are not in line with "German interests" and that they "almost exclusively satisfy French positions. And they insist: "French domination is very much embedded in the program.
The other report mentioned by Der Spiegel and submitted last week comes from the German Ministry of Defense. And it comes to almost the same conclusion as the BAAINBw, stating that a "strong French position" would mean that the goal of "developing a sixth-generation fighter aircraft would be missed" and that the SCAF program would be reduced to a "Rafale Plus approach with German and Spanish budget funds. "
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Both of them from few days ago.Germany, Spain and France want to bring the new European fighter jet into the air together. Internally, the Bundeswehr says: a project dominated by Paris that the other two are supposed to pay for. In addition, there are hardly any "innovative technological approaches".
The showcase project for a joint European fighter jet is met with reservations, according to "Spiegel". In a secret statement for the Defense Ministry, experts from the German Armed Forces procurement office in Koblenz come to the conclusion that the contract with France and Spain "has to be renegotiated from a technical and economic point of view," as the news magazine reports. In its current form, the experts consider the contract to be "not ready to be signed".
There is a "significant risk that critical technologies are not made mature enough, not in good time or not sufficiently" and that the deadlines cannot be met, "Spiegel" quotes from the paper. "Innovative technological approaches" are "hardly recognizable" anyway. This means that there is the risk that "essential technologies will either not be considered at all or only be considered in later phases and then not be financially viable".
"French Dominance"
After months of wrangling, Germany, France and Spain agreed in principle on how to proceed with the FCAS air combat system in mid-May. At the beginning of the week, Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron announced the agreement on the development of the new fighter jet, which will succeed the Eurofighter and the French Rafale from around 2040.
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In the opinion of the experts, "structures and rules" which "are not in the German interest and almost exclusively satisfy French positions" will be updated with the contract, "Spiegel" quotes from the report. This means that "French dominance is very firmly anchored in the program".
According to the magazine, a secret status report from the Federal Ministry of Defense from last week comes to a similar assessment. It said that the "strong French positioning" would mean that the goal of "developing a sixth generation fighter aircraft" would be missed and that the project would instead become a "Rafale Plus approach with German and Spanish budget funds"
And don't you find it strange that even if it is German leading (thus the benefits will be mostly German) on the EMBT the Germans want to open to partnerships (ITA and UK) meanwhile the French oppose them? If it is a German project why the need to oppose ? (this was from Defensenews) as you said it is and exchange so there should be no opposition from them after all it is German side of the deal
Plus I hardly see the EMBT having a 100bln+ budget tlike the FCAS one. ( but on this one i could be completely wrong).