Will Britain & France go Forward With the Unmanned Future Combat Air System (FCAS)

In January, when France and the U.K. signaled plans to cooperate on a €200-million ($374 million) concept study for an unmanned future combat air system (FCAS), Europe’s two biggest defense spenders said a memorandum of understanding could follow at the Farnborough International Airshow in July, with a subsequent contract expected this fall.

“We hope to achieve that shortly,” Philip Dunne, Britain’s defense procurement chief, said during the Eurosatory exposition here June 19, emphasizing the significance of the F-35’s impending arrival.

In the meantime, Dunne told reporters the two nations are “working in parallel on protocols concerning data-sharing” to enable collaborative efforts in support of the two-year FCAS study, which is expected to build on new unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrators developed in Britain and Europe in recent years.

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