Airbus: this future combat aircraft must replace the Rafale in 2040… “today against an army of drones, it is not going to do much”, what future for this project?

It is a long file which remains vague after years of reflection. The Scaf, a program between several European partners, including Airbus and Dassa, for a future combat aircraft, seems to be at a standstill.

“This program was launched before the war in Ukraine. It was designed in peacetime, on the basis of a certain number of hypotheses which are no longer valid today”, declared Guillaume Faury, the boss of Airbus, at the opening of the “Airbus Defense Summit” in Manching, Germany.

The debate around the Scaf has until now focused on industrial rivalries and governance problems between Dassault Aviation, prime contractor on the French side, and Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain.

Also read:
Airbus: after record profits, the amount of the participation bonus, reduced by half, is not passed on to employees… Unions threaten a strike

Obsolète ?

With the massive use of drones in the war in Ukraine, but also the conflict in the Middle East, many experts are now wondering about the future place of the combat aircraft. “Is the combat aircraft really going to be the dominant platform in the years to come? Not sure, today against an army of drones, it is not going to do much,” comments Antoine Kimmel, aerospace and defense expert from the international consultancy Roland Berger.
“It is better to face now the difficulties and realities that Scaf will have to face over the next decade, rather than having to correct the situation later, once the program is already well advanced,” underlines the Airbus manager.

Also read:
Airbus hits hard: a giant supercomputer to triple its computing power and design the successor to the A320neo

Replace the Rafale

The Scaf (Air Combat System of the Future) must replace the Rafale and Eurofighter combat aircraft by 2040 thanks to a connected set including a new generation aircraft, drones and a digital combat system.

For Mike Schoellhorn, head of the Airbus Defense and Space branch, developing a single aircraft becomes problematic while “the different air forces express clearly distinct needs”. “We tried to integrate operational needs into a single combat aircraft design. This results in a compromise which is less and less acceptable today (…) while the armies are ready to use it. This was not the state of mind in 2017,” he declared.

Also read:
New XXL order for Airbus: delivery of 137 A320 aircraft for a Chinese company

Launched in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron

Launched in 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reinforced by Spain two years later, the Scaf is a symbol of defense and security cooperation between France and Germany, the two European powers seeking to present a united front in the face of a hostile Russia and an increasingly hesitant American commitment to European security.

Also read:
21 years ago, this Airbus, whose production is now stopped, made its very first flight in the skies of Toulouse

Mediation desired by Emmanuel Macron to reconcile industrialists is underway. “We are encountering a difficulty on one of the pillars of the program. It is not the simplest,” admitted Guillaume Faury, speaking of the combat plane. “Working together with similar operating methods” however remains another “challenge” for Scaf, he underlined, alluding to Dassault which refuses to be “a minority leader” and calls for a change in governance.