The termination of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project signifies a setback for Franco-German cooperation and European defense initiatives. Experts cite structural design flaws and industrial rivalries as key reasons for its failure.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Ulrike Franke, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. According to Franke, the project's demise was "not a surprise to anybody." While acknowledging that Dassault was often perceived as "quite difficult to deal with," she argues that the deeper problem lay in a structural design flaw that brought together industrial rivals who "never really had the incentive to properly work together."