European Next Generation Fighter's First Flight by 2029: Dassault Aviation

Dassault Aviation has assumed the role of prime contractor of the European Next Generation Fighter (NGF) a key component of the Future Air Combat Systems (FCAS) as per a recent agreement reached with its partner, Airbus.

The new agreement with Airbus will endeavor to have the NGF’s demonstrator fly by 2029, Dassault Aviation CEO, Eric Trappier said in an interview to French publication, Le Figaro on December 1.

“The FCAS is a political project launched by President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2017, and at a standstill since summer 2021. So, yes, today it is done. We have an agreement with Airbus,” the Dassault Aviation CEO said.

“We’ll now be able to move into the next phase of studies, known as 1B, to prepare for the development of a demonstrator, which should fly around 2029… We have been confirmed in our role as prime contractor and architect of the aircraft, and we have obtained protection for our industrial know-how and technologies… Being the architect of a new fighter aircraft is very motivating for our company, our teams, those of Airbus, our main partner, Indra and our long-standing partners, Safran,” said Eric Trappier.

Meanwhile, an earlier Airbus release said, “Airbus and Dassault Aviation, in their roles as National Industry Primes for Germany and France, agreed on a wide-ranging transnational industry collaboration to jointly lead this ambitious project, with Dassault Aviation leading the development of the New Generation Fighter (NGF) and Airbus Defence and Space as the main partner. In turn, Airbus is in charge of Remote Carriers (RC) with main MBDA as main partner and the System-of-System/Air Combat Cloud (SoS/ACC) with Thales.”

In February 2020, Dassault Aviation received the contract for the Demonstrator Phase 1A, with a volume of €155 million and a duration of 18 months, which signals the beginning of the technology development & maturation for a FCAS.

In the meantime, of course, negotiations with the governments and our industry partners have started for a Demonstrator Phase 1B that will build on the work currently performed in Phase 1A. Additionally, the full integration of Spanish industry in FCAS is underway.