FCAS is a multinational project with pillars, or work packages, distributed among the three partners France, Germany and Spain. This division among national lines takes precedence over the division among company lines, as the project deals with national classified data which may only be handled by citizens of the corresponding nation.

So while Airbus is an international company, it has German and Spanish work packages that only German and Spanish nationals are allowed to see/work on.

French Dassault was responsible for Pillar one, the core of the project, which was the development of the “New Generation Fighter”.

Dassault/France decided to pull out of FCAS and develop their “New Generation Fighter” entirely on their own.

Now German and Spanish partners are left with an FCAS project without its centerpiece, and they are mad.

Anger is mostly directed at Dassault, which is refusing to work with its supposed partners, turning a tri-national project into a national with no regard for the effect this has on German and Spanish counterparts.

But the French Government also has a part in this. Dassault is their contractor, but they allow this to happen.