Belgium joins the European fighter aircraft program SCAF

For the time being, Belgium will be accepted as an observer in the complex Future Air Combat System programme.

It has been officially announced that Belgium will join the European fighter aircraft program SCAF, according to a statement issued by Emmanuel Macron.

For the time being, Belgium will be accepted as an observer in the complex Future Air Combat System (Scaf) program, which is being developed by France, Germany and Spain, the country’s head said on Monday.

“This is a major development,” he said at the conclusion of the Ministerial Conference on Anti-Aircraft Defense in Europe. “This expansion will make it possible to further embed this project in Europe at the heart of tomorrow’s air defense.”

“No country alone is able to finance this kind of project.”

At BFM Business this Monday, Bruno Vechevo, Program Director for Airbus, teased “a change in logic because the Belgians have always bought America so far.”

More generally, the industrialist justifies this necessary co-operation between states by the problem of colossal costs, since Europe has “much to catch up with the Americans or the Chinese.”

“No country alone is able to fund this type of project, hence the need for cooperation in order to be able to pool defense budgets, and to work together around a project that by being more partners, we can fund any such ambition.”

At the end of May, Dassault Aviation president Eric Trappier said he was against extending the program to other countries, fearing new difficulties in task-sharing between manufacturers.

For his part, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebastien Licorne, considered it necessary to “ask the question (…) on the condition that it is of industrial and military interest.” This was justified in particular by the need to reduce project costs estimated at around 100 billion euros, according to experts.

Projected in 2040

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces should enter service by 2040 but has already faced many delays.

The project was launched in 2017 to replace the French Rafale fighters and the German and Spanish Eurofighter, and the project was subject to a long delay last year due to friction between the French airline Dassault Aviation and the European giant Airbus, which are the pillars of this project with the support of the three countries. .

This ban ended on December 1, 2022 after intense political pressure, with the conclusion of an agreement outlining the division of labor for this massive industrial programme.