Earlier this week, Tappier said that he did not want Belgium to join the program known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), unless the Belgian government stopped buying American F-35 aircraft-one of the main competitors of the Dassault Rafale aircraft.
FCAS is run by the French company Dassault, the German Airbus unit and the Spanish company Indra and aims to deliver a new generation fighter by 2040. However, the project has sticked at a drawing one due to disputes due to disputes about the division of works that Paris and Berlin are trying to solve. Dassault and Airbus have notoriously tense relations, and the manufacturer Rafale wants to take over the main role in the production of the FCAS combat aircraft.
Belgium is a member of the scanner, but last week she announced that she had allocated EUR 300 million [1 mld 276 mln zł] to this program and he will ask “as soon as possible” for full membership in it.
-If I were a diplomat, I would say that Belgium is welcome if it stops buying F-35 aircraft. If I weren't, I would say that they treat us like fools, “Tappier said this week.
Trappier and Belgium have a long history of disputes regarding the decision of the Belgian government to buy F-35 aircraft instead of Rafale. In 2023, the general director of Dassault opposed the efforts of Belgium about obtaining the status of an observer, which led to a public quarrel with the predecessor of Francken, Ludivine Dedonder.
