{"id":51665,"date":"2018-10-28T13:24:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T13:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/28\/export-constraints-emerge-as-sticking-point-for-future-german-french-combat-aircraft-report\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:44:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:44:28","slug":"export-constraints-emerge-as-sticking-point-for-future-german-french-combat-aircraft-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2018\/10\/28\/export-constraints-emerge-as-sticking-point-for-future-german-french-combat-aircraft-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Export constraints emerge as sticking point for future German-French combat aircraft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLOGNE, Germany \u2014 Franco-German plans for a joint fighter aircraft project may be off to a rocky start, as reports emerged last week about fundamental disagreements between the two partners over export restrictions for such a weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a report on the website of the German magazine Der Spiegel, French negotiators made unlimited exportability of the so-called Future Combat Air System a prerequisite for getting started on the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The position is at odds with a more restrictive policy by Berlin, where arms deals to sensitive countries traditionally are more heavily scrutinized for the potential of human rights abuses by the recipient government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spiegel based its report on a four-page confidential cable from Germany\u2019s ambassador in Paris, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, describing the outcome of a Sept. 21 \u201ccrisis meeting\u201d in the French capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So deep ran the diverging views at the gathering that Claire Landais, the French secretary-general for defense and national security, threatened to cancel further planning unless Germany would agree to French demands for unconstrained exports of the future combat aircraft, according to the Spiegel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airbus CEO Tom Enders, whose company is involved in the planning alongside Dassault Aviation<\/a>, criticized the reported German insistence on export caveats. \u201cBerlin can\u2019t urge greater European cooperation in its Sunday speeches and then refuse it when concrete projects are taking shape,\u201d he told the magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\t