Uh oh....Francis Tusa is a little unconvinced...Dassault playing hardball perhaps, trying to put the fear up the German's?
View: https://twitter.com/DefAeroNews/status/1680936615814758400
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PARIS --- First piece of mood music: SCAF is not “officially dead”, but it is not far off. The mock-up, you know, the one without wheels that struggled to impress when we saw it four years ago, was back, on its Jack Jones in a pen which seemed to attract no-one at all. You might have thought that there would have been a new model, looking a bit more credible?
You could look for signs of SCAF on Dassault’s stand and outdoor exhibits pretty much in vain. One wag suggested that the English version of the acronym “SCAF”, the confusing “FCAS” (the same as the UK’s ...) actually stood for “Forlorn Combat Air System” .... Oh, that was from a French observer, not some sale
Rosbif!
But you would have been crushed by the number of different Rafale models, including a collection of 1:5-scale ones in the paint schemes of every operator. It looked good!
Any mention of SCAF in Dassault’s press conference?
If there was, it was so brief that Defence Analysis’s sharp-eared correspondent missed it – as did everyone else. For such a totemic programme to not even get name checked by Dassault Aviation’s Eric Trappier speaks volumes, if that isn’t tautological. Mr. Trappier was also rather offhand about SCAF in his pre-Show interviews, to put it mildly.
And two weeks previously, despite no mention of it in the Loi de Programmation Militaire 2024–30, Sebastien Lecornu told the Senate that the programme for a loyal wingman family, based on work done to date for the Neuron UCAV, was now fully funded, and it would see deliveries from 2030, and whatever is developed, as well as “effectors”, smaller UAVs/loyal wingmen will also feature, too, in this Rafale World. But if these start to arrive around 2030, what does this mean for the loyal wingman/effectors for SCAF? Hang on, who’s responsibility is loyal wingmen in SCAF? Oh, it’s Germany/Airbus Defence and Space....
And then at Le Bourget, Dassault and Dassault Systèmes announced a new initiative to create a French sovereign Combat Cloud, just, you know, if anyone wanted one. And whose responsibility is the Combat Cloud for SCAF (checks notes)? Oh, it’s (Germany’s) Airbus Defence and Space!
By-the-way, Defence Analysis suspects that Thales will have looked at this announcement with a degree of concern ....
Talks with Airbus Defence and Space, as well as corporate, really suggested to Defence Analysis that the company(s) just don’t “get” that the Franco-German defence/security relationship is not what is once was, that is the core of European defence. There was still a lot of, “but this is the motor of Europe, and there are no alternatives!”
Yes, but ....
Without getting into a fight with any tar babies, observers in Berlin/Munich might like to note what are seen in France as egregious insults: decision to buy P-8 MPAs, decision not to continue work on Tiger attack helicopter, withdrawal from a battlefield engagement missile family in favour of local production of an Israeli missile, and looking as if the next generation MBT will be “Leopard 2A8/9”, entirely German-dominated, as opposed to a bilateral programme.
There are still some (occasionally) warm words, as in Germany’s new security strategy, but one gets the impression that they were cut and pasted in from another document – the relations soured in 2020–22, and not only have not got better, they are still quietly – and irrevocably – deteriorating. "Germany: they’re just not that into you ....”
Oh, and Belgium entering SCAF, even “just” as an observer? French sources say, sure, but it’ll cost you €3–350m ....
Swordfish Enters
Just prior to the start of Le Bourget, Onera, the French state-owned aerospace test/trials body unveiled its concept for a hypersonic fighter, named “Espadon”, or “Swordfish”.
So what? Well, Onera says that this could see service around 2040. So what? Well, even Dassault is saying that SCAF will only see service from 2040 – and Airbus is saying 2042 – so if there’s this all-singing hypersonic fighter that could arrive only two to three years after SCAF/NGF enters service, why are you even bothering with SCAF NGF?
Onera says that it has wind-tunnel tested models for Espadon, scoping the art of the possible, and that key technology areas have been formally assessed.
Onera is looking at Mach 3–4 for the Espadon fighter
[Author: isn’t hypersonic above Mach 5 ...?].
Yet another sign that France is giving up on SCAF, and looking for a Franco-French programme(s), likely then trying to get the current Rafale base to sign up.
About the author: Francis Tusa is a defence journalist of over 35 years' experience. Starting at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, he branched out as a freelance writer and now publishes the Defence Analysis monthly (Inquiries at subscriptions@defenceanalysis.com)
An Espandon model has already undergone wind tunnel testing, but the end goal of developing an aircraft capable of flying “beyond Mach 5” won’t happen for decades.
breakingdefense.com
Tim Robinson from RAeS does point out that the Espadon is more about understanding m5+ flight.
www.dlr.de
