The Germany Defence Ministry was reported on February 19 to be contemplating putting an order for as much as 35 further F-35A fifth era fighters, doubling the variety of the plane it plans to discipline, in response to the continued stalling of the pan-European Future Air Fight System (FCAS) stealth fighter program being pursued collectively with France and Spain. Discussions with the US might contain greater than 35 further plane, in line with knowledgeable sources cited by Reuters, elevating the likelihood that the F-35 may kind the spine of the German fleet because it more and more has for a rising variety of international locations throughout Europe. The F-35 is the one NATO-compatible fighter of its era in manufacturing anyplace on the earth, which has allowed it to comfortably win each tender by which it has competed.
Germany’s political management had beforehand lengthy opposed the opportunity of procuring the F-35, because of the perceived dangers of overreliance on the US and a necessity to guard native business. The procurement of the primary 35 fighters was authorised solely in December 2022, following the approaching energy of the Olaf Scholtz administration, and within the aftermath of the outbreak of full scale hostilities between Russia and Ukraine earlier that yr. The plane have been beforehand anticipated to be relied on primarily for nuclear supply roles beneath Germany’s nuclear sharing settlement with the US, with expanded procurements past 35 plane indicating plans for a a lot expanded function within the fleet. Experiences that an enlargement of F-35 orders was anticipated to proceed first emerged in July, however have been denied by a number of excessive stage sources on the time. The Defence Ministry was then reported in October to be planning to increase F-35A procurements by simply 15 plane beneath a $2.9 billion deal.
A number one issue reported to be growing German curiosity within the F-35 is the present state o the Future Fight Air System program, which has continued to face rising difficulties, elevating critical questions relating to whether or not it’s in any respect viable. It was reported in September 2025 that officers on the German Defence Ministry have been contemplating choices to depart this system solely, whereas in December the UK Ministry of Defence indicated openness to Germany jointing the International Fight Air Program, which is meant to develop subsequent era fighter with Japan and Italy. The huge discrepancy between European applied sciences and industrial capabilities, and people of the business leaders China and the US, nevertheless, has meant that even when European stateswork intently collectively, they aren’t anticipated to have the ability to produce totally peer stage fighters.
The FCAS program will not be anticipated to provide a fighter for over 20 years, with Dassault CEO Eric Trappier having noticed as early as 2021 that “[The target of] 2040 is already missed, as a result of we already stall, and the discussions of the subsequent section will certainly even be lengthy… so we fairly goal for the 2050s.” These delays are anticipated to considerably improve the enchantment of the F-35 to international locations that had deliberate to obtain the pan-European plane, together with Germany and Spain, whereas France’s reluctance to obtain the F-35 has left it vulnerable to turning into the world’s final nuclear weapons state to discipline post-fourth era fighters. Though having fallen far behind China and the US, Russia stays comfortably forward of Europe in bringing superior fifth era fighters into service, with a very massive batch of Su-57 fighters with new enhanced capabilities reported on February 9 to have been delivered. Because the Russian plane continues to be modernised, the rising numbers in service threat leaving European fleets of fourth era fighters at a steep drawback.
