F-35 had to be purchased as a replacement for Tornado, and it had to be an aircraft that was cleared to carry American nuclear bombs in order to meet the nuclear sharing requirements.
What about French one? It’s not as if Germany is next-door neighbor to NATO’s second-largest nuclear power.
I wonder if it’s been discussed since all this time that this contract should be cut to make it more European. Even if I can understand some reluctance from here haha.
because the f35 doubles with its stealth technology and resolves as a result other holes in germany currently as well
Always bringing up the F-35, but…
No, because the F-35 is no alternative to the FCAS. The FCAS is meant to be a sixth generation fighter jet, the F-35 is a fifth generation one. The F-35 is replacing the Tornado, Germany already has committed to further developing its Eurofighter to bridge the gap to FCAS. The only alternative to FCAS is joining the Tempest project, which is something that Italy proposed should Germany do, if troubles with France continue.
This is however a view on the matter that is nearly exclusive to the French. Germans are very happy about the decision of the government to not reduce its military purchases solely to a tool to appease France, but rather focusing on the capabilities of the German Army (and EU/NATO) to defend itself against attacks. When French sources claim that these choices are bad for “Europe”, they usually mean “the French defense industry”.
There are no equally capable European alternatives to the purchase of the F-35. They don’t exist. So the only option to appease France would be to sacrifice capabilities (by delaying procurements by a decade or more).
When purchasing the C-130J for the Franco-German transport squadron, there were no issues with “European interests”, because France didn’t want to sacrifice capabilities until an European alternative
would have been developed.
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Don’t forget the angle that France has it’s own nukes. If Germany had it’s own nukes, Germany wouldn’t have to struggle with the whole nuclear sharing issue. Just how France doesn’t have to worry.
On that one i agree
MBDA is still very nation-segmented, with each entity doing its own thing sometimes (CAMM, Mica VL being a prime example of internal competition), as for Airbus it is more civilian oriented.
An entire fighter isn’t exactly the same. It’s like asking to share the construction of our aircraft carriers or SSBNs in one merger company, it just doesn’t make sense.
if you think france isn’t bringing much to the project, be it stealth, engine or whatever, i fail to understand how you can see it as good news
Honestly, I don’t understand all this interest in stealth, and especially in making planes whose only interest is stealth.
To me, it sounds like the ww1 and ww2 era, when everyone was trying to have the biggest armor, and seeing that shells were getting better and better, some nations turned to mobility before protection.
I wonder what will happen to these “they’re good because they’re stealth” planes when radars evolve and we get a good look at them.
Of course, having stealth components is an advantage, but presenting aircraft, or even digitizing a whole new generation, because that’s what “stealth” aircraft are all about…
Let’s not mention Germany chosing IBM for the FCAS cloud
I’m not even going to comment that decision, because i might risk being impolite
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who can seriously think a gravity bomb has any meaningful impact in 2023 ?
As far as i know, F35 isn’t imprevious to being detected by IR sensors or low frequency radars, it would be a suicidal run to drop a B61 unless it’s near your border
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ASMP-A going brrrr
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See i 100% agree
Which is why unless in certain conditions, i’m against going for a european cooperation knowing 100% it will fail because we can already do it at home.
First it would be more honest with other countries, and second we would stop wasting everyone’s time and money for little to no result
But oh well politics are what they are
As much as I would like to see what a Rafale+ would look like, having to suck up national pride would be the best decision in the long run.
But I seem to be the minority, even if I think Rheinmetall is near incompetent and is only competitive because of lobbying. Because they somehow have a stake in SCAF.
Aren’t they all
So every US defence company.
Why does wolfpack have a dart with so much pen
Because it went up in br so they gave it its M900 but the Type 16 FPS goes up and doesnt get Type 93
Can the type 16 be killed as easily
Yes actually suprisingly, well by tank rounds, its slightly less suceptible to autocannon
Then it should get the better dart
It should but US Premium bias