France-Germany jet plans crash: Can Europe end reliance on US for security?
Key takeaways
- Despite the collapse of the bellwether fighter jet venture FCAS, there is optimism about the future of Europe’s strategic autonomy.
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- Trump’s disdain for Europe’s reliance on the US has been building for years.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Despite the collapse of the bellwether fighter jet venture FCAS, there is optimism about the future of Europe’s strategic autonomy.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo. This photograph taken on June 18, 2023 shows a mock-up of the European New Generation Fighter (NGF) for the now-collapsed project [File: AFP]By Urooba Jamal Published On 12 Jun 202612 Jun 2026France and Germany have announced this week that they are ditching a landmark project to jointly develop a sixth-generation fighter jet.
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Monday that the project is being terminated, in what is being seen as a major blow to efforts to boost defence cooperation between European Union states, a key issue amid uncertainty cast by United States President Donald Trump over the readiness of the US to help defend its NATO allies.