Does the Tornado successor for the German Air Force come from Bavaria or the USA? Workers raise the alarm: When Boeing receives the order, "that's it".
Munich (dpa) - Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) wants to decide in the coming weeks on the successor to the Tornado fighter plane.
The head of the Airbus armaments division, Thomas Pretzl, warns against a decision for the American F-18 and against the Eurofighter: "With the purchase of the F-18 you risk the future of the European aerospace industry," he told the German press -Agenturdpa. "Our technical skills would be gone. The US would have the market for itself."
According to Airbus, around 25,000 people work on the Eurofighter in Germany, including suppliers. Germany and France have agreed to jointly create an "Air Combat System of the Future" (FCAS) with combat aircraft, networked drones and satellites, which should be operational in 2040. "But we need the technological bridge from Eurofighter to FCAS," said Pretzl. If FCAS wackéle and the Federal Air Force buy US planes, "then that's it". FCAS is not just a new combat aircraft, "this is a new dimension", with data cloud and artificial intelligence. Spain would also participate, other European countries are interested.
The project will also be discussed at the Munich Security Conference starting Friday, where Kramp-Karrenbauer, French President Emmanuel Macron and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are expected.
The Federal Air Force currently has 90 tornadoes - including 20 tornadoes that have been certified by the United States as carriers of US nuclear bombs. Since some of the German aircraft must be able to transport US nuclear bombs in accordance with NATO's concept of "nuclear participation", the Tornado successor must be certified by NATO partner USA. According to American statements, certification of the European Eurofighter takes three to five years longer than that of the F-18. The tornadoes are to be retired in 2030. The successors cost about 10 billion euros.
The arms and space division of the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus is currently under strong pressure: the order backlog shrank by 9 percent last year, sales declined slightly and the bottom line instead of profit was a loss of 881 million euros before interest and taxes. CEO Dirk Hoke had already announced cost reductions, "robust measures" and discussions with employee representatives in December. At the moment it is not known where job cuts are in the offing.
Airbus Defense and Space employ 5,500 people in Manching near Ingolstadt, 2,000 each in Ottobrunn near Munich, Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance and Bremen, and another 23,000 in France, Spain and England. The Eurofighter center fuselage section is manufactured by the Airbus subsidiary Premium Aerotec in Augsburg.
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