All the difficulties related to the integration of new partners in the new generation SCAF fighter aircraft program, which unites Germany, Spain and France, were summed up by Spanish Defense Minister Amparo Valcarce, when asked about the arrival of Belgium with observer status in the SCAF program .
In fact, the minister expressed her great satisfaction that Brussels was joining the program, which is designed to address the entire industrial effort of European aeronautical defense and the capabilities of the old continent’s air forces.
However, when a journalist asked her about the redistribution of industrial participation under the programme, she gave a completely different speech, indicating that she intended Spain to retain 33% of industrial activity, at least in phase 1B, with the aim of making the demonstrator to develop by 2029 Madrid has committed to finance 2.5 billion euros on the basis of Paris and Berlin.
In the shelf press, but also among the gurus of defense commentary on social networks, it is common for France to be blamed for the lack of flexibility within European cooperation programs.
In reality, the situation is often different and very often France, or rather President Macron, is much more forgiving than its partners but also than its own industrialists when it comes to promoting the emergence of a real pan-European dynamic of defense.
This case is the perfect example as it is very likely that it was Paris that gave Brussels observer status under the SCAF programme. And not without reason, because if Belgium did in fact opt for the F-35A over the Rafale in 2018, it has since shown more than a clean paw to France by ordering almost 5 billion euros in equipment from French manufacturers (VBMR ). , EBRC, Caesar, McM, Mistral 3).
Be that as it may, the Spanish stance shows unfilteredly that industrially it will be very difficult to make ‘space’ for other European countries under the SCAF programme, even if from a political point of view this is undeniably desirable, as is the case is is the sizing for the BITDs involved.
The only conceivable alternative to expanding the European base of the program would be to expand its scope, ie to integrate additional developments that justify the entry of new partners.
This can include, for example, the development of a single-engine combat aircraft, as mentioned several times on this site, extending the range of combat drones beyond currently planned remote carriers, or integrating space capabilities, to name a few trivial examples
The solution to integrating the BITD into the SCAF program could be to expand the scope of this program, for example by developing new drones or a single-engine combat aircraft.
It is also possible that an agreement between two countries that extends the scope of the program to only those two members could lead to a balanced agreement. This is the hypothesis mentioned in an article dated June 12 dedicated to this subject, which examines the possibility of integrating Belgium into the Rafale F5/Neuron program against the acquisition of equipment to space within the French part of SCAF to be released for Belgian industrialists.
Conversely, as long as the industrial scope of the program remains fixed, the slightest attack, however possible, on established industries will provoke epidermal reactions on both sides, industrialists and politicians anxious to protect theirs To preserve achievements that are considered strategies for developing their own BITD.
Be that as it may, and as the above-mentioned article concluded, the opening of the SCAF program to other European countries cannot be done without a good dose of imagination and disturbing thoughts to come up with solutions. Acceptable for everyone. From a certain point of view, the granting of observer status to Belgium fulfills this condition.