By Markus Wacket
BERLIN, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A senior German lawmaker on Tuesday urged Germany and France to salvage a 100 billion euro ($116 billion) defence project by developing a shared combat system while allowing each country to use its own fighter jets.
Time is ticking for Berlin and Paris to agree a way forward on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), an ambitious next-generation fighter jet programme launched eight years ago but stalled by disputes.
Failure to break the deadlock risks exposing Europe's inability to forge defence unity at a time when war has returned to the continent and the U.S. under President Donald Trump wants Europe to take more responsibility for its own security.
Defence ministers of Germany, France and Spain are expected to meet this week, followed by talks between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron next week.
Siemtje Moeller, a senior lawmaker in Merz's coalition and a former junior defence minister, told Reuters the project was in a phase of "adaptation" not "termination".
It was logical for Germany and France to use different fighter jets to suit their particular needs, she said, for example, France needs fighters to have the ability to carry nuclear weapons or land on an aircraft carrier.
"A realistic approach would be to develop a common platform and then further develop it to meet each country's specific needs," she said, with the core of the project being the network capabilities, the so-called "Combat Cloud".
"We can continue to cooperate closely on this, on unmanned systems, and on electronic warfare capabilities," she said.
FCAS has been mired in disagreements between France's Dassault Aviation and Airbus over workshare and prized technology.
"Different requirements are not a death knell for Franco-German cooperation - and certainly not a rejection of European defence projects," Moeller added.
($1 = 0.8587 euros)
(Writing by Matthias WilliamsEditing by Ros Russell)
