Europe's Next-Gen Fighter

Airbus Is Planning Europe's Next-Gen Fighter

The plane would replace the Eurofighter, other twin-engine combat planes.

Getty Giuseppe Bellini.
 
By Kyle Mizokami

European aircraft giant Airbus is in the early stages of planning what very well may become the continent's next generation fighter jet. The unnamed fighter could replace current European fighters, including the Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing F/A-18 Hornet, in the next ten to fifteen years.

Deutsche Welle, citing the German business daily Handelsblatt, said that Airbus was working on some components for the yet-unnamed jet. The article also said Airbus hopes to convince France, home of French fighter manufacturer Dassault, to join the program.


Royal Air Force F-35B.
Getty Marina Lystseva.

Airbus' fighter would replace current Eurofighter Typhoon jets flown by the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Italy. A large, twin-engine multi-role fighter, the Typhoon is extremely maneuverable and has a powerful engine. One drawback however is that the Typhoon was originally designed in the 1980s, before stealth became a key requirement for combat aircraft, and has only marginal radar-evading capabilities. The proposed fighter would also likely replace Spanish F/A-18 Hornet fighters and if France joins the project, Dassault's Rafale fighter.

What would the Airbus fighter look like? It would almost certainly look like a stealthy Eurofighter in both performance and mission. It would be a high-end, high performance fighter with two engines and optimized for air-to-air combat. It would have a powerful, long range radar and beyond visual range missiles such as the UK's Meteor missile. Like the Eurofighter, it would have a secondary air-to-ground mission. It would probably be capable of commanding a robotic wingman or a swarm of drones.


French Rafale jet fighter.
Getty Roslan Rahman.

When could it enter service? Fighter planes take a long time to develop—the Typhoon took nearly two decades to go from the drawing board to first flight, and the F-35 slightly less. Both were developed in peacetime without an aggressive major power (like Russia) making trouble in the neighborhood. The newest Royal Air Force Typhoons are scheduled to be retired in 2040, but other operators, especially Spain and its aging Hornets, would need the new plane sooner. The longer the Airbus fighter takes, the more likely its sales will be eaten up by the F-35—three out of four of the Typhoon's operators are already buying the F-35, and even Germany is now considering buying them. The F-35 would not be an ideal fit, but it would be the only fighter around.

Getting Dassault to join the project will probably be the most challenging part of the project. The French aircraft manufacturer and maker of the Rafale fighter jet is a symbol of France's high tech prowess and military independence. Dassault, as an independent aircraft manufacturer, also gets all of the profits from Rafale sales—a 2015 sale of 24 jets to Egypt was worth $230 million per plane. On the other hand, the Rafale's high cost has limited the number of jets France could buy for itself.