Belgium, Joins Future Combat Air System European Fighter Jet Project

Belgium will participate as an observer in the new French - German - Spanish fighter jet project dubbed the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), said a spokesman for the country's defense ministry. Monday, June/19/2023.

"I confirm that the council of ministers accepted to propose our country as an observer in French - German - Spanish research and development at FCAS," Ludivine Dedonder, Belgium's defense minister, said in a statement.

Observer status will last six months to a year and allow Belgium to exchange information with other partners and evaluate how different manufacturers can integrate and add value to the project.

"I am happy that Belgium can participate in the development of future technologies."

The Future Combat Air System (FCAS), first announced in 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is designed to replace Dassault's Eurofighter and Rafale with a combination of manned and unmanned aircraft from 2040.

FCAS will comprise the Next-Generation Weapon System (NGWS) as well as other air assets in the operational battlespace in the future.

The components of the NGWS will be the swarming drones as well as the New Generation Fighter (NGF) - a sixth-generation fighter jet that around 2040 will replace the current French Rafale, German Typhoon and Spanish EF-18 Hornet.

The test flight is expected around 2027 and becomes operational around 2040.

The FCAS concept was developed within the framework of the ETAP European Technology Acquisition Program which started in 2001 as a joint venture between Germany, France, UK, Italy, Sweden and Spain.

The new FCAS concept is a System of Systems (SoS) approach that combines manned and unmanned systems, combat aircraft and UCAVs, to be more efficient in future scenarios than operating with manned systems alone.