Germany and France are discussing downsizing their flagship 100 billion euro air defense project, abandoning plans to jointly build a fighter jet and focusing on a command and control system, Reuters reported. and the "Financial Times".
Officials in both countries say the partners can focus on developing the "combat cloud" control system.
People familiar with the matter said last week that France, Germany and third partner Spain were ready to resume high-level talks on the next phase of the project, known as FCAS, or its French acronym SCAF, after delays caused by the recent political crisis in France.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will meet his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin in Paris today, two of the sources said at the time.
Berlin has previously blamed French industry for blocking the next phase of the program by demanding sole leadership of the project, in a coded reference to Dassault Aviation.