{"id":33935,"date":"2019-02-28T16:57:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T16:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/28\/conference-call-confusion-is-the-joint-french-british-fighter-program-terminated\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:42:35","slug":"conference-call-confusion-is-the-joint-french-british-fighter-program-terminated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/2019\/02\/28\/conference-call-confusion-is-the-joint-french-british-fighter-program-terminated\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference call confusion: Is the joint French, British fighter program \u2018terminated\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PARIS \u2014 Confusion arose Thursday surrounding the Franco-British Future Combat Air System project, as Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier said during the company\u2019s annual results news conference that the project was \u201cterminated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there has been no formal termination of the agreement. It has simply been downgraded to a technological demonstration: another victim of Britain\u2019s departure from the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrexit tends to absorb the energy and finances of our U.K. partner, who is not necessarily very available to carry out ambitious projects with us,\u201d said Didier Quentin, a member of the French parliamentary foreign affairs commission. Presenting a report on the nation\u2019s 2019 budget last October, Quentin told the commission that France had \u201cjust given up on a joint combat drone demonstrator project under the Future Combat Air System (FCAS): it has been replaced by studies on technological bricks which are much more modest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FCAS project was launched in November 2014 between Dassault Aviation and Britain\u2019s BAE Systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\t