German and Spanish industry back ‘Team Gen 6’ initiative to further sixth-generation fighter development.
Airbus remains committed to delivering next-generation combat capability for Europe, despite the collapse of the New Generation Fighter (NGF) effort between France, Germany and Spain, says Jean-Brice Dumont, head of air power at the company’s Defence & Space unit.
“There is a need for a bit of a reshaping and reconsidering the reality of today,” Dumont commented at the ILA Berlin air show on 11 June, just two days after the NGF’s termination had been confirmed by German defence minister Boris Pistorius.
Noting that the broader Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project between the nations spans seven separate “pillars” of technology development, he stresses: “We have to consider safeguarding areas where it works, and how we reshape.” Examples of other focus areas include engines, remote carrier vehicles, precision-guided weapons and data connectivity.
“At the moment, we are going to seek guidance from our governments [about] what they want us to do. There has to be demonstrated an industrial feasibility of what is being asked – not only technical. That’s probably a lesson now,” he says of challenges leading to the NGF effort’s failure.
“We have put a number of options on the desk of our ministers and ministries of defence, and we are waiting for them to guide [us],” he adds.
Then, just hours after its military aircraft head had spoken to journalists at the biennial show in Berlin, Airbus Defence & Space posted a message on X announcing the formation of “Team Gen 6”, what it describes as “an exciting step for European sovereignty”.
“A group of eight leading German defence and aviation companies [have] signed a strategic positioning paper,” it says, identifying the partners as Autoflug, Diehl Defence, Hensoldt, Liebherr, MBDA Germany, MTU Aero Engines and Rohde & Schwarz.
“While the development of the overarching [FCAS] ‘system of systems’ is progressing as before, the sixth-generation fighter aircraft integrated within it requires a new, agile industrial setup. We at Airbus Defence & Space stand ready to take on the responsibility,” it adds. An accompanying video depicts a notional concept aircraft flying with multiple uncrewed platforms.
It also cites the German industry initiative as having “closely integrated” support lined up from Spanish companies GMV, Grupo Oesia, Indra, ITP Aero and Sener.
“As Team Gen 6, we have the capabilities and the capacities. Now, we are looking for close alignment with policymakers and the air force[s] to drive forward a superior European air combat system for collective security,” the X post states.
Speaking ahead of the announcement, Dumont had commented: “The world in ’26 is very different to the world of 2017 when the [FCAS] programme was launched. We have to accept that fact and reshape it – we need another way to get to the same goal, with faster milestones.”
The high-profile NGF element of the tri-national project fell victim to industrial work-share and leadership wrangling between Airbus and Dassault Aviation, with the French airframer insisting on retaining the self-styled role of “architect” for the future combat aircraft.
“The problem we had is that we had drawn a line to 2040, and new technologies for everything,” Dumont notes of the broad-ranging FCAS activity. “Today, you see demonstrations of connectivity, systems of systems and unmanned vehicles all around the world. The need is there, and in the countries that we are competing with, they are using it already.”
Pointing to lessons learned through the FCAS endeavour, he says: “What Phase 1A and 1B [of the programme] have given is a very thorough analysis of the repartition of the work between the crewed and uncrewed platforms, and this remains. That kind of shapes what the manned aircraft will have to do.”
As an example, he points to ongoing activity that will see the Eurofighter flown with a Rafael Litening 5 pod adapted so the platform can be operated in conjunction with uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft (UCCAs).
The work represents what he calls a “fast track” effort to enable the in-service type to, in the near future, serve as a “command fighter”. A Learjet test aircraft will be used to perform initial validations next year, and subsequently be demonstrated flying with uncrewed aerial systems in an “enhanced teaming” mode.
Airbus expects to have the Litening 5-equipped Eurofighter ready to perform operational activities in 2029 using the command fighter operating concept. That will involve the crewed platform and UCCAs using Airbus’s Multiplatform Autonomous Reconfigurable and Secure mission system.
“The demand from the customers is: be ready early,” Dumont notes. “This is not a contradiction to the Future Combat Air System challenge – it is the need to have our platforms evolved earlier than we had traditionally planned.”
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