European SCAF fighter jet program officially abandoned

European defence ministers announced on 8 June that the joint Franco‑German SCAF (Système de combat aérien du futur) fighter‑jet programme has been cancelled. French and German officials cited diverging requirements, budget constraints and the shift toward drones and unmanned systems as reasons for the project's failure. Airbus chief Guillaume Faury described the venture as “dead‑born” and “an unsolvable equation”, while a German regional paper quoted a source as saying, “On the political level the signal is disastrous, but on substance the decision is right”. The termination ends a collaboration launched in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, which also involved Spain, and leaves France with €2.5 billion already invested in a programme it now plans to pursue independently for a sixth‑generation fighter.

The cancellation underscores the difficulty of achieving European military‑industrial sovereignty and may prompt new bilateral or multinational arrangements, but immediate operational impacts are limited to ongoing procurement plans.