Tom Enders – the former chief executive of Airbus and EADS and now president of the German Society for Foreign Policy – warned in a guest column for the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND) that developing a new German fighter aircraft is a “gigantic misallocation of resources”. He was replying to calls from the Federation of the German Aerospace Industry (BDLI) and the IG Metall union to pursue a domestically designed platform.
The debate has intensified because the German‑French‑Spanish “Future Combat Air System” (FCAS) faces serious doubts about its feasibility and costs. The FCAS programme is estimated at roughly €100 billion. Enders criticized the 2017 German government decision to move the next‑generation fighter programme from London to Paris, saying the choice was largely shaped by the disappointment with Brexit and was a strategic mistake in hindsight.
According to Enders, Germany does not need to rely on France and Spain for the next generation of manned fighters. “We can participate in the development of the next – possibly last – generation of manned combat aircraft” he writes, noting that the UK, with its GCAP programme, and Saab in Sweden come across as viable partners. While cooperation on manned platforms is still possible, Enders stresses that Germany’s own financial strength should be directed toward unmanned systems. He is also a board member of the German drone manufacturer Helsing.
“The future of air warfare lies not in increasingly complex, manned high‑end platforms that take two decades to develop” Enders argues. “It is in highly intelligent autonomous drone systems where software, AI capability and low‑cost mass production matter more than cockpit design or aerodynamic perfection”. He believes that Germany, with its broad industrial and technological base, could secure a leadership role in Europe’s unmanned combat aviation, while manned “fighter aviation” will become only a marginal role in the next twenty years.
