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Nazrin Abdul

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Germany’s decision to develop its next-generation fighter aircraft with France rather than the United Kingdom has been described as a strategic error by former Airbus chief executive Tom Enders.

As reported by AzerNEWS, Enders openly criticized the Paris-Berlin cooperation under the Future Combat Air System (SCAF/FCAS) program, Europe’s flagship next-generation combat aircraft initiative.

He characterized the choice as politically driven and strategically flawed, suggesting that Germany would have been better off partnering with the United Kingdom or Sweden’s defense company Saab instead.

In an article published by the German media outlet Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, Enders, who served as CEO of Airbus from 2005 to 2019 argued that the 2017 decision, taken in the aftermath of Brexit, was motivated more by political considerations than by military necessity.

While noting that Germany is technically capable of developing a fighter jet independently, Enders stressed that pursuing such a path would be impractical and economically inefficient.

His remarks come at a time of growing industrial and political tensions surrounding the SCAF program, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also expressing open doubts about the project’s direction.