June 12, 2026
Pistorius: No rush to decide on new Gen 6 jet project after FCAS collapse
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at the annual Berlin air show on Friday that the government would need time to consider a new consortium’s bid to build a next-generation, multirole combat jet for the German military.
This follows just days after the 9-year-old Franco-German FCAS presitge project collapsed, amid bickering between French aviation giant Dassault and Airbus in Germany.
The vultures promptly started circling the FCAS carcass, eying fresh government grants. A consortium of eight companies calling themselves “Team Gen 6” put their names forward to cooperate on a sixth-generation combat jet.
“I am very pleased about this initiative, initiatives of precisely this kind are now needed,” Pistorius said at the ILA air show. “But we must look very carefuly at what can be done with whom, and how quickly, and at what cost, and with what involvement from German industry.”
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There was still some ground to cover to reach a decision, Pistorius said.
The Team Gen 6 alliance that issued the application incorporates Airbus, MTU, Hensoldt, MBDA, Autoflug, Diehl Defence, Liebherr and Rohde und Schwarz.
The head of Airbus Defence and Space, Michael Schöllborn, said at the ILA that he was interested in a new “compact” solution that would be focused on military needs and not plagued by excessive complexity because of too many countries wanting to pack too many desires into one design. He said he thought the mid-2030s or 2040 could be a realistic completion date.
“In contrast to last time, we should bring political, military and industrial interests into harmony,” he said.
